According to Wood Mackenzie, ramping up battery metals production is also important to limit the average global warming to two degrees above pre-industrial levels by 2040.

Appointment comes after a particularly fraught period in relations between traditional land owners and Australia's powerful mining companies.

"Lithium M&A likely a formality in the coming years" as Rio Tinto plans $2.4 billion mine in Serbia from entirely new mineral source – jadarite.

The top-five western diversified miners may have earned a combined $85 billion for the first half of the year, according to analyst estimates, more than double the level from a year ago.