The Northern Territory Government has extended a deal with two aspiring lithium cathode producers for the development of a new battery manufacturing project.
Avenira Limited and Advanced Lithium Electrochemistry (Aleees) will extend a memorandum of understanding (MOU) originally signed in September 2022.
Under the September 2022 announcement, a tripartite non-binding MOU was signed by Avenira, Aleees and the NT Government to work towards the development of a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery cathode manufacturing facility.
The NT Government is to assist and advise on necessary infrastructure including water, energy, power, telecommunications, road, port and rail access and service requirements.
The new agreement will aim to see a feasibility study commenced on the project by the end of the year, with site allocation to come in 2025.
Avenira’s work on the project is currently underway following the completion of a promising scoping study, which Avenira chair and chief eexecutive officer Brett Clark said demonstrated the strong economic and technical viability of the project.
“The MOU extension demonstrates the continuing support of the Northern Territory Government and Aleees with this significant LFP cathode project in Darwin,” he said.
This agreement has been extended to June 30 2025 to allow the NT Government to continue to provide Aleees and Avenira with support through to the completion of the next stage studies.
Once operational, the pilot facility will manufacture up to 10,000 tonnes of lithium-iron phosphate battery cathode material per year.
It’s estimated the project will initially create 100 jobs, growing up to 1000 jobs and generating more than $US4 billion ($6 billion) in revenue annually once scaled to full production.
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