Supporting the industrial metals sector
WAVE International’s beginnings in the lithium and industrial metals sector date back more than 15 years, starting with general engineering services to Talison Lithium’s Greenbushes mine.
The early years at Greenbushes provided a solid operational grounding for Wave’s core team and allowed the company to grow its capability to support the development of the lithium chemical supply chain from mine to chemical, both within Australia and internationally.
Wave International director Ryan Hanrahan said that the company has supported the sector both in upstream mining and beneficiation, to downstream processing.
“We have delivered upstream projects from resource definition through study, delivery and operations,” Mr Hanrahan said.
“In the downstream sector we have delivered projects from study, design, and construction with a team of specialists who have experience in actual operating facilities.
“Wave is active in connecting investment, projects, and customers to enable effective new supply into the market.”
The company’s contribution to the expansion of the supply chain is unique and extends beyond just technical services to developing relationships with lenders, equity partners, contractors, technology providers, trading houses and end users.
“It is this knowledge that allows Wave to provide a strategic view of the industry to its clients and tailor project solutions,” Mr Hanrahan said.
Wave’s expertise allowed the team to assess the best economic value from a spodumene project between DSO, low-grade and high-grade concentrate products, as well as a cost benefit trade-off between processing technologies.
The company also assessed the best economic value from an integrated mine and chemical facility between lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide, considering geographical, technical and demand trends.
Mr Hanrahan said that in the present market one of Wave’s most valuable assets was its downstream processing capability.
“With a global trend towards integrated refinery models, Wave’s combined upstream and downstream capability provides clients a unique opportunity to access all required expertise to produce a value added chemical material under one roof,” he said.
“This expertise is supporting the development of lithium chemical supply across the geographies of Australia, Canada, Korea and Europe.”