06/08/2017

Car Industry Revolution Fuels Western Australia's Lithium Boom

ABC News - Kathryn Diss

A boom in electric cars, such as this Tesla, has driven a boom in lithium mining. (ABC News: Marcus Alborn)
Car makers' EV targets

By 2019:
  • Volvo to phase out internal combustion cars 
By 2020:
  • Volvo plans to develop an affordable EV 
  • Tesla pledges to build 1 million EVs
  • Nissan predicts EVs will account for 20pc of sales in Europe
  • Ford forecasts up to 20pc of Chinese market will be EVs
By 2025:
  • Volkswagon to target 1 million EV sales
  • Mercedes predicts up to 25pc of its global sales will be EVs
Electric cars are driving rapid mining investment in WA, with the state supplying most of the lithium needed to manufacture batteries worldwide.
Most electric vehicles (EVs) use lithium-ion batteries, the same technology which powers smartphones, tablets and laptops.
As car makers around the globe race to meet new EV targets, demand for batteries has driven lithium exports from WA as the state now produces more than half of the world's supply.
Global leaders have been behind the push, with new European emissions legislation forcing car markers to increase their targets and France recently announcing it wanted to end the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2040.
It joins similar targets set by India (2030) and Norway (2025).
The British Government is also set to ban the sale of petrol and diesel cars from 2040 as part of a plan to clean up air pollution.

Growth in demand 'surprised most analysts'
Batteries to store household solar power, which would allow consumers to disconnect from the electricity grid, are also driving demand to a lesser extent.
"The speed at which demand has grown for lithium carbonate equivalent has surprised most analysts, ourselves included," Katana Asset Management's Romano Sala Tenna said.
"Up until a few months ago the conventional thinking was by about 2025, we would need about 330,000 tonnes per annum of lithium carbonate, [but] based on recent announcements from larger automobile manufacturers, we are now thinking we will need at least double that — about 600,000 tonnes per annum."
While that may sound small compared to the 800 million tonnes the state's iron ore industry exports each year, the activity in the sector is already creating thousands of new jobs and generating millions in royalties for the cash-strapped WA Government.
Why lithium is a hot item
Dozens of struggling miners have moved to reinvent themselves as lithium companies. Why?
The Greenbushes mine in the state's South West, which is part owned by China's Tianqi Lithium and America's Albemarle, is one of the world's largest lithium producers and is undergoing an expansion to double production.
The mine has seen both boom and bust since starting out as a tin operation in 1888, but is now on the cusp of another upswing — laying claim to what was considered the world's highest grade lithium deposit.
"It is the longest continuously running mine in Western Australia and it's on its third product. It just seems to keep producing new life," Tianqi Lithium general manager Phil Thick said.
"Lithium is obviously a game changer for that mine. It's been significant as a tin and tantalum mine, but lithium value is substantial."
The joint venture is also building what it claims to be the biggest lithium processing plant in the world in Kwinana south of Perth.
The project will cost $400 million and create 500 construction jobs.

'More than just a mini-boom'
Growth in the sector has been rapid.
In January, the state had just one mine producing lithium — it now has four and exports have jumped six-fold.
WA catches lithium wave
Western Australia continues to stake its claim as the world's lithium mining capital, as the super-charged sector rides the wave of an investment boom.
Business observer Tim Treadgold has witnessed big changes in WA's mining landscape during his 40 years commentating on the sector.
"This is more than just a mini-boom, this is the real McCoy, we could go from one [mine] two years ago to eight by this time next year. It really has been quite remarkable what's going on," he said.
Activity in the sector is attracting big names including Chilean major Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile (SQM) which has inked a deal to bankroll a new deposit in the Goldfields with Kidman Resources.
It includes plans to build a $100 million refinery at either Bunbury, Perth or Kalgoorlie.
The deal was announced just days after Kidman won a Supreme Court battle against another miner to maintain control of the mine.
"The world has beaten a path to our door. The arrival of SQM was a real wakeup call that the world wants it and it's coming here and it's prepared to pay for it," Mr Treadgold said.
'We can't afford to keep throwing these things away'
Demand is also growing for other specialty minerals which go into building a battery, including graphite, cobalt, vanadium and nickel.
While the focus for most miners has been getting their lithium to market as quickly as possible, other players like Lithium Australia is targeting lower grade lithium and recycling of old batteries.
"Our focus has been developing processing technology to a large extent focusing on the materials people don't want to process at the moment," Lithium Australia managing director Adrian Griffin said.
"If you look at the industry, there's more lithium that gets discharged to waste around the world than ever gets into the process supply chain.
"One of the things Australia really needs to look at is the recycling of waste battery materials.
"We can't afford to keep throwing these things away: At the moment there's about 8,000 tonnes a year of battery materials going to landfill and there's only about 800 tonnes recycled."
Adrian Griffin says about 8,000 tonnes of battery materials a year are going into landfill. (ABC News: Manny Tesconi)
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Australia's Carbon Pollution Soars, Government Data Shows

Fairfax - 

Australia's greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase, making the task of future pollution cuts to meet international commitments more difficult, the latest data for the government show.
On a seasonally adjusted quarterly basis, emissions rose 1.6 per cent in the March quarter, the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory shows. The Environment Department confirmed the quarterly increase was the biggest in nine years.

Al Gore: 'We are going to win' over climate change
Former US vice-president Al Gore continues to fight climate change tirelessly with An Inconvenient Sequel.

On an annual basis, the country's emissions reached 550.4 million tonnes of carbon-dioxide equivalent, excluding land use changes such as land clearing. That tally was up 1 per cent from a year earlier.
For the March quarter alone, the 138.3 million tonnes - again excluding land use changes - was the most for any quarter since at least 2001-02. If land clearing is taken into account, the total is the most since September 2005."This is simply a disgrace and a complete failure of policy, a failure the government has no plan to fix," Mark Butler, Labor's environment spokesman, said.
Under the Coalition governments since 2013 emissions had risen 6 per cent compared with a 10 per cent drop in the pollution during the 2007-2013 Labor governments, he said.
Interestingly, the increase in emissions has not come from the electricity sector, the largest single source of pollution. That sector is down 1.9 per cent from a year earlier.
Instead, emissions rose 5.8 per cent from the stationary energy sector excluding electricity, as the LNG industry ramps up. Pollution from industrial processes rose 2.8 per cent and agriculture 2.5 per cent from a year earlier in the March quarter, the data shows.
La Trobe Valley's Loy Yang coal-fired power station is among the country's biggest polluters. Photo: Paul Harris
Environment and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg took heart from a drop in power sector emissions: "Importantly emissions in the electricity sector have continued to fall, including 0.6 per cent (trend) in the March quarter and 1.1 per cent (trend) in the December quarter".
Labor's environment spokesman Mark Butler has called the latest figures a disgrace. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen
However, others pointed to the overall jump in emissions.
"There is one test of a climate policy: is pollution down? Under the government's policy framework, pollution keeps going up and up," Amanda McKenzie, chief executive of the Climate Council, said.
"This data is just another alarm bell ringing that the federal government is choosing to ignore - all while Australia's pollution levels soar, driving worsening climate change."

Paris goal
This latest quarterly data comes about four weeks after the previous quarterly release of figures following freedom of information queries about their overdue release.
Australia is committed to cut 2000-level emissions by 5 per cent by 2020, a target it is likely to reach because of credits earned during the Kyoto Protocol period. The Turnbull government has also signed Australia up to the Paris climate accord, pledging the country will reduce emissions 26-28 per cent by 2030 compared with 2005.
"This dramatic increase is no wonder, given this government has failed to produce any policy to reduce emissions in the transport, electricity, industrial and agriculture sectors," Mr Butler said.
The Turnbull government has deferred a decision on whether it will set up a clean energy target for the power sector - which accounts for about a third of emissions - as recommended by the Finkel review.
Mr Frydenberg said Australia had "a strong track record" in meeting its international emissions commitments.
"Official figures show Australia beat its first Kyoto Protocol emissions target and is on target to beat its 2020 emissions reduction target by 224 million tonnes," he said. "Australia's emissions per capita and emissions per unit of GDP are at their lowest level in 27 years."
The government's target for 2030 is 441-435 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent, a goal that is not consistent with cuts needed to keep global warming to under 2 degrees versus pre-industrial levels, the Australian Conservation Federation said.
"Instead of trying to hide or obscure the problem, the government should instead be taking comprehensive action that puts us on a path to ending our carbon pollution," Matt Rose, an ACF economist, said.
The rise in emissions from the LNG export sector, heavy industry and transport made it clear the government need "comprehensive action" to address pollution, he said.
"In that light, we are heartened to see [Mr] Frydenberg talking seriously about implementing new pollution standards for cars that would bring Australia in line with the rest of the industrialised world," Mr Rose said.

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California Coastal Communities Sue 37 Fossil Fuel Companies For 'Knowingly Contributing To Climate Change'

The Independent - Emily Shugerman

'It is unfair to force citizens, business owners and taxpayers to fend for ourselves,' says one mayor
A surfer checks out the waves in Marina del Rey, California. Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
Three California communities are suing 37 of the world’s largest oil, gas and coal companies for knowingly contributing to climate change.
San Mateo and Marin counties, as well as the city of Imperial Beach, have filed suit against companies like Exxon, Shell, and Chevron, which they claim produced roughly 20 percent of all greenhouse emissions between 1965 and 2015.
The communities are now seeking relief from the costs of climate change, which include rising sea levels and carbon dioxide pollution.
"As a low-income coastal community, we have no capacity to pay for the adaptation measures needed to protect ourselves from these impacts,” Imperial Beach Mayor Serge Dedina said. “It is unfair to force citizens, business owners and taxpayers to fend for ourselves when the source of the problem is so clear."
Marin County, meanwhile, argues that the effects of flooding caused by climate change will cost the community upwards of $15.5 billion (£11.9 billion) in the next 15 years alone.
The communities further claim that the companies knew about the effects of climate change for at least 50 years, but failed to act. The companies, they allege, took steps to secure their own assets, but did nothing to warn the larger community.
Dinka cattle herders starting their migration in South Sudan. Lisa Murray
Previous investigations have claimed that Exxon Mobil sat on findings from one of their senior scientists about the effects of climate change, starting as early as 1977. Exxon claims they never sought to hide these findings.
A spokeswoman for Shell told The Guardian that the company believes climate change is a “complex societal challenge that should be addressed through sound government policy and cultural change ... not by the courts”. A spokesman for Statoil pointed out that previous, similar cases had been dismissed for being outside the scope of the judiciary.
Similar complaints have seen some success against the tobacco industry, after local governments sued cigarette manufacturers for health-related expenses. The most prominent of these claims was settled outside of court, for a substantial sum.
According to Columbia Law Professor Michael Burger, however, causation may be more difficult to prove in the case of climate change.
"Proving that these particular emissions that came from these fossil fuel companies led to this particular level of sea level rise and contribute X amount to harms that have happened or will happen – that's a long chain of causation,” Mr Burger told Insideclimate News.
"There are a number of significant legal hurdles,” he added.

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