Engineering company Monadelphous Group has secured a major construction contract with Albemarle valued at approximately A$200 million ($135 million) associated with the expansion of the Kemerton lithium hydroxide plant in the south west region of Western Australia.
The contract includes front-end pyromet structural, mechanical, piping, electrical and instrumentation works associated with two new lithium processing trains (trains 3 and 4).
The award follows the successful delivery of construction packages on trains 1 and 2, and the recently awarded long-term maintenance and sustaining capital projects contracts at Albemarle’s Kemerton operations.
Work will commence onsite later this year and is expected to be completed in the second half of 2025.
Monadelphous Managing Director, Zoran Bebic, said this award, in addition to the award announced last week with Fortescue Metals Group for work at the Christmas Creek mine site, represent the first in a new wave of major construction projects to come to market.
“We are extremely pleased to have secured these key construction opportunities, and look forward to continuing to deliver high quality solutions for customers, as well as supporting local communities through the provision of employment and supply opportunities,” he said.
Albemarle says expansion of Kemerton represents the biggest investment by any company in downstream processing of lithium in Australia.
The Kemerton plant initially consisted of three production trains, each producing 20,000 t/y of lithium hydroxide, with a potential expansion to five trains that will see production increase to 100,000 t/y by around 2025. The plant will be supplied with lithium concentrate produced at the nearby Greenbushes mine.