Astart-up developing a lithium extraction process that is cheaper, less environmentally harmful and less reliant on China for processing has won the Agriculture, Mining, Engineering and Utilities category of The Australian Financial Review 2024 BOSS Most Innovative Companies awards.

The technology, developed 2½ years ago by Professor Huanting Wang at Monash University and being developed by ElectraLith, enables the extraction of lithium – critical to the manufacture of batteries for mobile phones, laptops, digital cameras and electric vehicles – without water or chemicals.