The start of construction of what will become the world's largest lithium processing plant was celebrated on Thursday.
Premier Mark McGowan joined United States Ambassador to Australia, Arthur B. Culvahouse Jr., State and Federal Members of Parliament and Albemarle representatives to officially turn the sod on the Albemarle lithium hydroxide processing plant in Kemerton.
The facility is a $1 billion investment in Western Australia that will create 500 construction jobs and another 500 jobs in the South West, once operational.
It will become Australia's largest lithium hydroxide plant, with approval to produce up to 100,000 tonnes per annum of premium battery grade lithium hydroxide.
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Albemarle Corporations David Klanecky said they were excited to be in the South West with the Kemerton lithium facility set to the become the largest in the world.
"We're excited to be here, this is our first operation in Australia," he said.
"We have the Greenbushes operation, which we're involved in so we have a great resource nearby.
"We want to have people working here that are close to site, that can have families close to site.
"We're very committed - we design the plants to last 30 to 50 years so we want to be here for awhile."
Mr Klanecky said Albemarle planned to do as much as possible locally.
"Our plan now is to work with the local community on how do we train the workforce up and into chemical processing operations, so we're pretty confident that we'll be able to build a workforce here," he said.
"We're very open to meeting with the South West communities because we want to employ local people and we want to be competitive with the job market.
"If we can hire 500 locally, we will hire 500 locally."
Mr Klanecky said the company was currently exploring transport options including the possibility of rail.
"There is a study going on right now looking at how we can maximise and optimise the transportation of the product both to the site as well as the finished product - we're looking at that with the government," he said.
Kemerton has needed this, the South West needs this and we are very pleased to work with the company to deliver it.
- Premier Mark McGowan
Mr McGowan said the facility was exactly what the state had been looking for, for a long period of time.
"This is a terrifc day for the South West - this is all about jobs for West Australians," he said.
"Kemerton has needed this, the South West needs this and we are very pleased to work with the company to deliver it," he said.
"What we're working with the company to achieve is that the maximum amount of jobs go to people in the South West.
"I've said to the company we would love to see people from Bunbury, Australind, Harvey and Collie trained up and have the opportunities for these jobs - Collie in particular as we want to make sure Collie has a strong future."
Mr McGowan said lithium would be a big part of WA's future, with the state currently the number one global producer of the sought after mineral.
"This project is important to the South West and I'm very keen to work with the company to maximise the jobs for people from the South West, so that South West people get the training, get the jobs out of this important development," he said.
"With up to 1,000 local jobs being created, this project will be a huge economic boost for the South West region and will show the capability WA has in the lithium-ion battery sector."
Albemarle now has an office in Australind and is beginning the recruitment process, currently advertising for engineers and planners.
