Engineering company Monadelphous Group has been awarded a A$200m ($134.7m) contract by US-based Albemarle pertaining to the expansion of the Kemerton lithium hydroxide plant in Western Australia.
Under the contract, Monadelphous will undertake front-end pyromet structural, mechanical, piping, electrical and instrumentation works associated with two new lithium processing trains, trains 3 and 4.
This contract comes after the completion of trains 1 and 2 construction packages, and the recently signed long-term contracts for maintenance and sustaining capital projects at Albemarle’s Kemerton operations.
Monadelphous plans to start work under the new contract later this year with completion scheduled for the second half of 2025.
Monadelphous managing director Zoran Bebic said: “We are extremely pleased to have secured these key construction opportunities, and look forward to continuing to deliver high-quality solutions for customers, as well as supporting local communities through the provision of employment and supply opportunities.”
Earlier this year, Albemarle announced its decision to expand the Kemerton lithium hydroxide plant by building two additional processing trains, trains 3 and 4, with an investment of more than $1bn.
With the additional trains, the lithium hydroxide facility’s production capacity is expected to increase by 50,000 tonnes (t) per annum.
Upon reaching full operating capacity, the Kemerton lithium hydroxide plant is anticipated to generate up to 100,000t per annum of lithium hydroxide.
Located in the Kemerton Industrial Park, 160km south of Perth, the lithium hydroxide facility is fed by spodumene concentrate from the nearby Greenbushes mine.
