The agreement on lithium is key. Australia mines 53% of the world’s total supply, and demand for lithium is soaring. World output was 737,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent in 2022 and is estimated to reach 964,000 tonnes in 2023 and 1.7 million tonnes in 2024. Australia has the second largest lithium reserves in the world: about 6 billion tonnes compared with Chile’s 9 million tonnes.
In June 2022, $16 billion of lithium was exported from Australia, up from $5 billion the previous year to China, accounting for 94% of Australia’s total lithium exports.
Tees Valley Lithium, a subsidiary of UK-listed Alkemy Capital, is investing in a lithium sulfate plant in South Australia.
Alkemy Capital Investments plc (LON:ALK, FRA: JV2) is focussed on developing projects in the energy transition metals sector. Alkemy’s wholly-owned subsidiary Tees Valley Lithium (TVL) is developing a state of the art lithium hydroxide plant at Teesside, UK. TVL is Europe’s largest independent and sustainable lithium hydroxide producer.