Tianqi Lithium Kwinana has placed an order with Liebherr for the first LRS 545 Reachstacker in Australia. The new device is a part of a package including two Liebherr XPower wheel loaders. The new machine is scheduled to go into operation in July this year.
Tianqi Lithium operates a new lithium hydroxide plant in the Kwinana Industrial Area, south of Perth in Western Australia. The company works every day to meet the rapidly growing demand for rechargeable batteries driven, for example, by the electric vehicle and energy storage industries. In July, for the first time, a reachstacker and two XPower wheel loaders from Liebherr will be used on the new plant in Kwinana.
Currently Tianqi Lithium is in the process of bringing their new Kwinana plant on line, which at full production will produce 48,000 tonnes a year of lithium hydroxide. The produced lithium hydroxide is a lithium compound derived from spodumene, a lithium-containing mineral that is extracted in Greenbushes, 250 km southwest of Kwinana. One of the main tasks of the new Liebherr Reachstacker is to prepare the lithium hydroxide, which is stored in containers, for transport all over the world. In order to ensure a smooth loading process, a powerful and reliable device was required.