Lithium Australia NL (ASX:LIT) managing director Adrian Griffin speaks to Proactive Investors about the company's proprietary SiLeach® process, which has successfully delivered lithium phosphate in pilot plant testing.
Lithium Australia aims to convert mine waste into lithium-ion batteries, a world-first.
Griffin highlights the "positive" ecosystem for research and development (R&D) in Australia during the time the process was pioneered.
He explains, "At the moment, Australia takes about half a percent of the value of the supply chain. If you put enough R&D in, you can actually leverage the outcome and get a lot more of that supply chain, and we should do that because we've got the tiger by the tail.
"We actually control the inputs into the supply chain; what we've got to do is do the research to value-add to those materials. The supply chain, if you look at [projections], by 2025 it's probably going to be worth somewhere between 2 and 5 trillion dollars."
Griffin teases more innovations in the pipeline, and indicates that the company is looking into all geographic options moving forwards to maximise returns, given a recent decision by Australian politicians to remove R&D tax credits.