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However, Ellison said building lithium hydroxide plants in Australia was difficult and expensive.

Instead, he wants to convert the current spodumene product containing about 6 per cent lithium to lithium sulphate with a grade of up to 30 per cent and sell it directly to electric vehicle makers.

“I think the world’s waking up that if you want surety of supply, you’re going to go and spend billions and billions of dollars on assembly lines to build cars – you’ve got to be able to go and have a deal direct with the owners of the rock,” he said.

Until then, Mineral Resources will ship much of its spodumene to China for processing, where it is confident of getting a good deal due to excess refinery capacity.

Ellison is hopeful the federal government, keen for downstream processing to happen here, will provide financial support for local processing.

“We’re famous for being a one-trick pony ... we go dig the rock, put it on a ship, then sell it for a few hundred dollars a ton, and then Japan and others send it back to us for about $50,000 a tonne with a Toyota badge on it,” he said.

In an opposite tack to most chief executives who butter up the investment analysts, Ellison sparred frequently during a 90-minute results call about their comments on the revised joint venture with Albemarle.

“I can see that there’s a few out there that don’t really understand the deal,” he said.

Some analysis was “total rubbish” and “simply unfounded, and they’re damaging to our business”, and another was “horseshit.”

Later Ellison, who founded the company three decades ago, was more conciliatory.

“I just don’t like getting kicked in the balls, and I apologise if I’ve been a bit strong,” he said.

Mineral Resources shares closed on Wednesday up 4 per cent at $73.82 a share.

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