Rio Tinto to build battery manufacturing lab in Melbourne’s Bundoora as launch pad into battery metals sector
The mining major is building a battery manufacturing lab at its research facility in Melbourne’s Bundoora, as part of its push into the global battery metals sector.
Rio Tinto is building a battery manufacturing laboratory at its research facility in the Melbourne suburb of Bundoora, planning to use the small scale plant as a launching pad into the global battery metals sector.
Bundoora has already been tasked with the work of finding the best way to extract and process Rio’s lithium and other battery metals deposits – first at its Jadar deposit in Serbia, and more recently at Rio’s Rincon project in Argentina.
But Rio’s minerals boss Sinead Kaufman told the World Mining Congress in Brisbane on Wednesday the research facility will now take an expanded role in Rio’s push to join the batteries race, with its engineers and scientists building a mini-battery manufacturing plant to test the use of Rio-produced minerals against those of its competitors.
“We are constructing an end-to-end battery laboratory to improve our understanding of battery production, manufacturing and chemistry,” she said.
“At this lab, we will build our own batteries, allowing us to test how our minerals and other products will perform in real-world applications, such as in an electric vehicle batteries.”
Rio’s battery materials division is seen by the company as one of its keys to future growth, with the company’s exploration and business development teams part of a global hunt for more lithium and nickel assets.
The company’s last quarterly production report showed its exploration teams were active in half a dozen countries across the world looking for the two commodities, including Finland, Peru and Australia.
Rio has taken a different view on lithium to fellow mining giant BHP, which has avoided joining the rush for lithium assets because the company does not see an opportunity to operate at scale in the commodity, according to chief executive Mike Henry.
Rio has taken a different view, partly because of the expertise contained within its Bundoora facilities. Most smaller lithium companies have been stuck selling a lithium concentrate to downstream refineries, putting them at the mercy of wildly volatile prices.
The company said it has no intention of becoming a battery manufacturer in its own right, but by putting the minerals it produces – first lithium, from a pilot plant at Rincon, then nickel and potentially other commodities as they are found – Rio hopes to test the performance of the products it produces in different battery chemical make-up, and build up a profile of its mineral deposits that will help the company design its mine site processing facilities.
The ultimate goal, Rio says, is to consistently deliver exactly what its future customers want, helping the mining giant extract the best possible value from its products.
Ms Kaufman said Rio expected the manufacturing laboratory to be operational by November.
“This is exciting work, it is market creating and is a critical support for our Battery Materials business, established in 2021 as part of our strategy to prioritise growth capital in commodities essential for the drive to net-zero, such as our acquisition of the Rincon Lithium project in Argentina.”
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