Kwinana lithium hydroxide plant to be competitive soon: Tianqi JV CEO

The long-troubled Kwinana lithium hydroxide plant in Western Australia will soon be competitive, despite doubts from part-owner IGO Ltd., according to Tianqi Lithium Energy Australia Pty. Ltd. CEO Raj Surendran.

The Kwinana lithium hydroxide plant was beset with poor delivery of construction and cost overruns even before first production in 2022.

IGO owns 49% in TLEA, a joint venture which was formed in 2020 and is operated by 51%-owner Tianqi Lithium Corp. (TLC). TLEA owns and operates Kwinana and also co-owns the huge Greenbushes mine in Western Australia with the US-based Albemarle Corp., which feeds Kwinana.

Ivan Vella, CEO and managing director of IGO, said in August 2025 that "there isn't a pathway to acceptable long-term investment returns" at Kwinana, given its cost structure, after the asset was fully impaired by A$605 million($433.18 million).

A spokesperson for IGO told Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, on April 21 that IGO has not changed its position on Kwinana.

Vella also said in 2025 that Tianqi differs from IGO on Kwinana's viability amid overcapacity and competition in China. Surendran told the Critical Battery Minerals Conference in Perth, Australia, on April 21 that TLEA is also optimistic on the plant's future.

"In terms of being competitive, yes, we absolutely believe [Kwinana] will be competitive with just about every jurisdiction," Surendran said.

"The jury is still out on how competitive we will be with Chinese-converted lithium. The challenge for us is to continue to improve, and we're doing that every year."

Given Kwinana operates in Western Australia, which has "world-class resources, a very strong democratic government, strong infrastructure and a skilled workforce ... there's no reason why we can't keep improving, bringing new technology to our business, to our plant to make ourselves competitive," Surendran said.

"We are already halfway there, and we think it's not long before we get to the point where we will be able to compete with the best out there."

Future of Australian lithium refining

IGO's Vella said in November that Kwinana's ongoing troubles called into question whether producing lithium hydroxide was even manageable in Australia. Albemarle also paused construction on a third processing unit at its Kemerton lithium hydroxide plant in the state in July 2024 and put the second operational train on care and maintenance.

"There's a lack of belief that we could ever be competitive — and to be fair, there's a lot of evidence that points to that. So, the impact of that narrative out in the market certainly doesn't help us in terms of dealing with staff that are nervous in difficult times," Surendran said.

TLEA has higher turnover and must "work really hard to retain staff," though it has been able to retain some employees for several years, while also retaining the intellectual property TLEA has built over a number of years, the executive said.

The joint venture also has issues with vendors and customers who "get nervous about are we going to be around [and] are we going to be able to meet our commitments," Surendran said.

"So, we have to work with a greater amount of transparency and clarity, work extra hard in commercial negotiations and trying to make sure that the conditions reflect our true operating position as opposed to the narrative that's out there in the market," Surendran said.

Patience required

Anand Sheth, founding chairman of the International Lithium Association, told a panel at the conference on April 21, that while automation can help reduce costs, "the chemistry sometimes does not help," so the industry needs to adjust to the fact that "it just takes time" to get lithium refining right.

"I know of cases in China of lithium refiners who have been doing this for the last 20 years, setting up another new refinery in China and not succeeding in the first two years," Sheth said.

Thus, even with "the best, most highly experienced people, they still struggle while they make it better" in China, Sheth said.

Some get to the fourth generation of the plant, "going through lots of cycles of failures" before success, Sheth said, and expressed confidence that this would likely be the case in Australia.

"I don't think it's the end" of lithium refining in Western Australia, which just needs to "play it smart,"Surendran said.

"Rather than trying to be part of a bifurcated supply chain, a parallel supply chain to what already exists, I think we should be working with the existing supply chain, developing the interdependency so that we are valuable to the existing supply chain and can take advantage of that, because we're already there," by operating, Surendran said.

Platts assessed the Lithium Hydroxide CIF North Asia price at $20,300/metric ton on April 21, up from $8,900/mt a year prior.