In Roskill’s view, French company Arkema is doing the right thing by creating a new polyvinylidene fluoride range.

MIT spinoff 247Solar developed a battery that uses silica sand and electric resistance coils to generate ultra-high temperature heat from clean energy sources.

Company is one of China's biggest producers of the metal and is building new facilities in the southern Chinese city of Ganzhou to produce 10,000 tonnes per year of cobalt chemicals.

Lithium prices surged from 2015 to mid-2018 as rising demand from electric automakers outpaced available supply.

The country is currently the biggest producer of the two crude metals, and a restriction on more smelters coming online could hit Chinese stainless steel producers.

Adding more capacity to refine metals into specialist chemicals or materials and building expertise in manufacturing lithium-ion cells or battery packs, would enable the battery industry to contribute about A$7.4 billion to the nation’s economy by 2030.

The United States earlier this month said it would work with allies to secure the minerals needed for electric vehicle batteries and process them domestically.