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Battery technology developer Alsym Energy has secured a 9-gigawatt-hour strategic partnership with Australian mining consultancy ERITY to deploy sodium-ion storage systems globally, marking a major push to challenge lithium’s dominance in industrial applications.
The multi-gigawatt agreement targets the power-intensive mining sector across Tanzania, Saudi Arabia, Finland, and the United States. Under the terms of the deal, the non-lithium storage systems will power microgrids, mineral processing plants, mobile data centers, and heavy-duty electric mining fleets. Initial rollouts are slated for projects operated by Volt Resources Ltd. and Resource Minerals International.
The transaction underscores a growing industry-wide push to displace diesel fuel, which remains one of the largest and most volatile operating expenses for remote mining operations. While estimates of diesel’s financial burden vary widely ranging from 15% for some listed Australian firms to as high as 50% according to Alsym’s internal figures the economic incentive to transition to cleaner, grid-scale storage is accelerating.
“Mining operations in remote, harsh environments require energy solutions that eliminate logistics bottlenecks and mitigate catastrophic risks,” an Alsym spokesperson said in a statement. “Our Na-Series platform is intentionally engineered for off-grid infrastructure, offering the unique ability to be stored and shipped at a zero-percent state of charge without degrading.”
Alsym has heavily marketed its sodium-ion chemistry as an inherently non-flammable alternative to lithium-ion, positionining it as immune to the “thermal runaway” fire risks that have plagued conventional battery chemistries in high-temperature settings. However, the company has not yet provided independent validation for the claim. Independent academic research published as recently as 2025 indicates that while sodium-ion offers superior thermal stability under specific conditions, certain configurations can still experience severe thermal runaway depending on their state of charge and precise chemical makeup.
The ERITY deal marks Alsym’s third major commercial agreement in just two months, following an 8.5 GWh partnership with ESS and a 500 MWh contract with Juniper Energy. Together, the company claims its order book has swelled to 18 GWh of commercial commitments. Still, Alsym has yet to disclose an independently verified operating fleet figure, leaving questions about its current manufacturing scale.
ERITY, an integrated advisory firm established in late 2025, handles geology and corporate advisory work across the mining project lifecycle. Representatives for Volt Resources and Resource Minerals International did not immediately issue separate statements confirming the deployment timelines.
