Mr. Tan is widely regarded as a pioneer in the modern lithium industry. He led the Greenbushes lithium operation in 1995 and commissioned Australia's first lithium refining project. As one of the earliest Australian mining executives to recognize the immense potential of the lithium-ion battery market, Mr. Tan spearheaded Galaxy Resources Limited (Galaxy). Under his leadership, Galaxy developed the Mt Cattlin Spodumene Project, producing 137,000 tpa of spodumene, and the Jiangsu Lithium Carbonate Project in China, with a production capacity of 17,000 tpa. Hatch was the project builder for the Jiangsu project. Mr. Tan also secured two strategic assets for Galaxy: the James Bay Spodumene Project in Canada and the Sal de Vida Brine Project in Argentina.

Currently, Mr. Tan serves as Executive Chairman of Lithium Universe Ltd. The company is addressing Canada's lithium conversion gap by establishing the Bécancour Lithium Refinery in Quebec.