SYDNEY -- Miners in Australia, the world's largest producer of lithium, are moving off the ground floor of the global market for electric-vehicle battery materials through partnerships with big U.S. and Chinese processing companies.
Tianqi Lithium Energy Australia, a joint venture between China's Tianqi Lithium and Australian miner IGO, in May started up a plant for battery-grade refining plant in Western Australia, the first of its kind in the country.
