A new $98 million downstream processing facility is going to be built in Western Australia after an agreement was signed between the Western Australian Land Authority (Development WA) and EcoGraf (Australia) Limited.
The agreement enables EcoGraf to lease a 6.7-hectare site in the Kwinana-Rockingham Strategic Industrial Area (SIA) – about 30 kilometres south of Perth – and build a graphite processing plant that will support the State’s growing battery minerals industry.
“This is an exciting facility that will create jobs in Rockinham and surrounding suburbs.
“The allocation of this prime industrial land to EcoGraf supports the State Government’s Future Battery Industry Strategy, which aims to grow this emerging sector in WA and transform it into a significant source of economic development, diversification, jobs and skills,” Premier and Rockingham MLA Mark McGowan said.
Construction on the new graphite facility is expected to commence in mid-2021, creating approximately 200 local jobs. An estimated 75 jobs will also be supported once the process plant is up and operational.
The project site in the Rockingham SIA has been chosen for its existing infrastructure, access to global markets as well as recent lithium developments and related activity in the Rockingham-Kwinana region.
The site will also allow for future expansion of the processing plant to meet expected market demands.
Stage 1 production capacity of the new processing plant is expected to reach 5,000 tonnes of battery-grade spherical graphite a year, which will increase to 20,000 tonnes per annum once Stage 2 is completed.
“Congratulations to all the staff and stakeholders at EcoGraf on today’s great announcement.
“The demand for battery minerals in electric vehicles and battery storage systems has created an exciting opportunity for Western Australia, which has the fourth largest reserves of graphite in the world,” Mines and Petroleum Minister Bill Johnston said.
EcoGraf is a Western Australia-based company that has patented a state-of-the-art, eco-friendly graphite purification process and caters to global market demands for environmentally responsible battery-grade spherical graphite.
Source: Government of Western Australia – Media Statements; EcoGraf (1, 2)