Batteries are a critical solution for urgent decarbonisation goals and energy storage – with Queensland providing the essential resources and processing expertise amid surging demand in Australia for grid capacity and home installations.
The Australian Government’s Cheaper Home Batteries offers a 30% subsidy for home installations. More than 11,500 batteries have reportedly been installed since 1 July alone. To keep up with such demand, the existing battery supply chain must quickly expand.
Lithium has dominated the battery field in electric vehicles (EVs) and energy storage. However, to deliver the energy transition and amid competition from different industries, a greater variety of solutions is required. As understanding of battery chemistries expands, the next wave of innovation is strongly believed to involve vanadium and graphite – notably for grid-scale storage but also for households.
Queensland holds both critical minerals in substantial quantities and of higher quality than available in other locations. The state has an established mining industry and the necessary infrastructure to supply the materials required for battery production.
Crucial state support is now enabling companies to access and harness the immense potential of these resources. Furthermore, specialist facilities for battery processing and manufacturing are now operating and expanding in Queensland. All these factors mean that the name of Queensland could soon be globally synonymous with high-performance batteries.
While market fluctuations pose challenges, Queensland’s diversified mineral portfolio and robust infrastructure mitigate risks, ensuring long-term investment stability.
The advantages of vanadium over lithium
An overreliance on lithium leaves industrial decarbonisation plans exposed to supply chain disruption. There are also many challenges with sourcing, processing and transporting lithium, along with fire risks due to overheating.
Vanadium offers an immediate solution for energy storage demand, covering grid-scale and home installations. While battery chemistry alternatives to lithium such as sodium-ion are in development, these technologies are unlikely to be scalable or commercially viable soon enough. However, vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) are an established and understood technology. There are examples of VRFBs in operation worldwide, from smaller-scale kilowatt capacity to gigawatt-hour projects, for example, in China.
VRFBs offer advantages over lithium for large-scale and long-lasting energy storage. There is a significantly reduced fire risk with VRFBs, with the service life more than double that of a lithium-ion battery. Furthermore, it is possible to fully recycle the vanadium electrolyte at the end of a battery’s operational use, transferring the electrolyte from one battery to another with no decline in the unit’s capacity.
VRFBs require stability to operate and are not suitable for mobile applications. Therefore, growth in vanadium adoption could free up crucial supplies of lithium for other areas such as electric vehicles.
By 2032, global vanadium demand is predicted to double. Estimates suggest that more than 90% of growth could be driven by VRFBs. Australia holds an estimated 47% of known global reserves, with Queensland possessing globally significant vanadium resources estimated at 26,000 kilotons (kt) and potential mine production of 40kt a year.
The Queensland Government is now actively working to establish the region from Julia Creek to Richmond in North West Queensland as a Critical Minerals Zone. As investors seek urgent solutions, the region has all the strengths to become a globally sought-after producer of vanadium and other critical minerals, including high-purity alumina and molybdenum.
Vanadium projects in Queensland
Queensland has seven vanadium projects at various stages of development. These include three coordinated projects – involving Richmond Vanadium Technology, Vecco Group, and QEM – and another pending through Critical Minerals Group.
Many vanadium deposits in Queensland are shale-hosted geology, making recovery easier and lessening the mining impact.
Vanadium mined in Queensland turned into batteries and could even power mines in the state, avoiding the high costs of connecting to the grid in remote locations and the need for diesel generators.
“Once you’ve got the vanadium, you can value add and turn it into a battery component in a way that is scalable, reasonably simple, and something that you can do cost-effectively in Queensland,” says Jeremy Peters, general manager of energy at Queensland-based Vecco Group.
Townsville in Queensland is an area of major significance for batteries in Australia. Based there is the Queensland Resources Common User Facility (QRCUF), which has been set up to accelerate commercial projects for critical minerals. The initial focus is on processing vanadium sourced nearby, then later processing other critical minerals such as rare earth elements (RREs) and cobalt.
From its operations in Queensland, Vecco is advancing its plans to turn raw vanadium into grid-scale storage batteries in Townsville through a partnership with Idemitsu.
Worth an estimated A$1.9bn ($1.2bn), the Vecco Critical Minerals Project is forecast to produce as much as 9,000 tonnes per year (tpa) of vanadium, which is equivalent to approximately 1GWh of energy storage each year. Estimates suggest that Australia has 40GW of grid storage projects in the pipeline, presenting immediate market opportunities for vanadium domestically amid rising demand.
The performance advantages of Queensland graphite
Graphite is a crucial mineral for the majority of batteries, regardless of the chemistries and other minerals involved. It has been estimated that graphite accounts for an estimated 95% of the anodes in lithium-ion batteries.
While chemistries and materials used in batteries may change depending on their application in energy storage or electric vehicles, graphite is widely used in anodes.
Graphite supplies are under pressure. Global demand for graphite is predicted at 10,419 kilotons (kt) by 2030, according to the International Energy Association (IEA), up from 4,324kt in 2023. By 2040, demand is projected to rise further to 16,023kt.
Queensland is emerging as a global hub for high-performance graphite. Natural graphite from Queensland offers a considerable performance edge due to the way it was formed naturally.
To achieve the necessary levels of purity and crystallinity, extracted natural graphite is often heated to temperatures exceeding 2,400°C in energy-intensive processes. However, the volcanic graphite in Queensland means that much of the treatment happened naturally through the geology.
At the forefront of Queensland graphite is Graphinex, which is developing its Esmeralda Graphite Project into a key location for the world’s battery supply chain.
“We’re not just digging rocks — we’re building a clean energy future,” says Art Malone, managing director of Graphinex. “Queensland graphite has the purity, structure and performance characteristics the world’s battery makers are chasing.”
Developing graphite projects in Queensland
Graphinex holds the third-largest natural graphite resource in the world, making Australia a leading provider in the global supply market that is currently dominated by producers from China.
The company’s Esmeralda Graphite Project is the world’s third-largest natural graphite resource and could break China’s grip on the market. Queensland has the capacity to deliver premium graphite to global battery makers.
Located outside Croydon in North Queensland, the Esmeralda deposit has been confirmed as a high-grade, natural graphite deposit through extensive metallurgical and resource testing. Graphinex is now actively expanding the already extensive resource.
A notable milestone in Graphinex’s product development came through a collaboration with the University of Queensland (UQ), which independently validated the performance of the company’s graphite in real-world applications.
Throughout hundreds of lithium-ion battery tests, Esmeralda graphite has demonstrated its considerable performance, with its energy retention capacity exceeding industry benchmarks.
“We’ve tested hundreds of batteries at UQ, and the results speak for themselves,” Malone says. “Our graphite outperforms expectations.”
In a crucial step toward commercialisation, Graphinex has built a state-of-the-art demonstration plant in Townsville, designed to prove the scalability of its anode-grade graphite production. The project has received support from both the Queensland and Australian governments and is considered strategically important to Australia’s battery minerals future.
“With state and federal government backing, our battery anode facility gives battery and EV manufacturers a real-world, commercial-scale sample of what we can produce,” says Malone.
The plant will also serve as a hub for customer qualification, enabling Graphinex to accelerate offtake discussions with global battery and EVs manufacturers seeking Tier 1 supplies outside China.
In Townsville, the Graphinex project positions Queensland as a globally leading location in future supplies of not only high-performance battery-grade graphite, but also advanced materials such as graphene.
An ethical and transparent supply chain for battery materials
Sourcing the components for a single battery can sometimes span several countries. Furthermore, the lack of traceability in the complex supply chains means it is often impossible to verify exactly where materials originated. And while the batteries themselves may be zero-emissions, sourcing the materials can have a significant environmental impact, and unethical practices may be exposed.
With the European Union set to introduce its battery passports in 2027, accessing this major global market will require the supply chain to be verified and all minerals accounted for.
Alongside this, the last six years have highlighted the flaws of an overreliance on international supply chains. Disruption can severely restrict operations and technological advances.
Queensland not only possesses extensive mineral resources and processing capabilities for critical minerals such as vanadium and graphite, but also offers crucial trust and transparency in the supply chain. With the state now developing battery manufacturing facilities – such as those from Vecco and Graphinex – it will soon be possible to buy batteries sourced and made in Queensland.
“It’s important to have resilient supply chains, and it makes sense to do it in Queensland, both financially and logically from a resource production point of view,” says Peters. “Otherwise, you lose that opportunity, and you’re stuck with the same problems year after year.”
Along with the resources, mining expertise, and infrastructure, Queensland also has the crucial government support that has made a significant difference in enabling businesses to develop and scale up. The Queensland Government has been actively working to facilitate connections with domestic companies and international partners that have the potential to support sector growth and invest in the burgeoning opportunities in battery minerals in the state.
“You’ve got people that you can rely on and that you can build relationships with to help companies grow,” adds Peters.
To learn more about the critical mineral opportunities in Queensland, download the new prospectus below.
