Tesla is set to increase its battery materials spending in Australia to over $1 billion per year for the “next few years,” company chairwoman Robyn Denholm said on Wednesday.

Speaking at the Minerals Council of Australia’s conference, the executive revealed that “three quarters of Tesla’s lithium feedstock is currently sourced from Australia, and over a third of our nickel.” She estimates that there are around $5,000 worth of minerals and metals in every EV.

Denholm highlighted that Australia will benefit from the need for green credentials and the focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) requirements in the EV value chain, Kallanish reports.

“Australian mining companies do have a good reputation, great expertise, professionalism and are preferred by manufacturers increasingly concerned about meeting both today’s and the future’s ESG requirements,” she says.

The country should be looking at more downstream and export processed material rather than just ore, the Tesla chair suggests. Last year, Australia recorded exports value of around $100 million, shipping almost half of the global lithium ore supply. If it was to refine the ore into a battery-grade product, Denholm estimates exports value “would have been more like $1.7 billion. So that’s a $1.6 billion annual opportunity and growing.”

Earlier this week, Tesla’s ceo Elon Musk said on Twitter that the prices of Tesla cars are rising “due to major supply chain price pressure industry-wise. Raw materials especially.”