Lithium mining in Australia is highlighted by the

Greenbushes Greenbushes is a timber and mining town located in the South West region of Western Australia. The 2021 population was 365. History Greenbushes was founded as a mining town in 1888 following a surveyor's discovery of tin in 1886. Greenbushes wa ...

hard-rock

lithium Lithium (from el, λίθος, lithos, lit=stone) is a chemical element with the symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard conditions, it is the least dense metal and the least dense solid el ...

mine in Western

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, labelled by the

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...

, "the world's largest hard-rock lithium mine".

Lithium Lithium (from el, λίθος, lithos, lit=stone) is a chemical element with the symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard conditions, it is the least dense metal and the least dense solid el ...

is a soft metal with a silvery-white appearance. It is recovered from

mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. ( ...

deposits, mostly from

spodumene Spodumene is a pyroxene mineral consisting of lithium aluminium inosilicate, Li Al( Si O3)2, and is a source of lithium. It occurs as colorless to yellowish, purplish, or lilac kunzite (see below), yellowish-green or emerald-green hiddenite, pri ...

and large lithium rich brines in salt lakes. According to Statista, as of 2018, Australia has surpassed

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

to become the largest producer of lithium by metric tonnes. Australia is home to

miners,

Orocobre Allkem Limited, known as Orocobre Limited until 30 November 2021, is a mineral resource company based in Brisbane, Australia. The company's present focus is on lithium and borax mining operations within Argentina. Since 2007 Orocobre Ltd. is reg ...

Core Lithium The Finnis Lithium Project is a lithium mine being developed near Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. The project is being developed by Core Lithium. The ore body was discovered in 2016, feasibility work was done 2018–2020 with a firm in ...

Galaxy Resources Galaxy Resources Limited was an Australian public mining company. It was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange until it merged with fellow lithium producer Orocobre in August 2021 to form Allkem. Operations Galaxy Resources was a lithiu ...

, Pilbara Minerals,

Mineral Resources Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest and cultural value. O ...

and Altura Mining with most of the large lithium miners producing lithium from hard-rock

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

Initial development

Talison is a leading producer of lithium and one of the first mining companies to begin development in Australia, from its prized Greenbushes Lithium Operations, "Greenbushes was Australia’s first hard rock lithium mine", with its first lithium plant being commissioned in 1985. Galaxy resources founded in 1996, commenced production of

out of its Mt Cattlin mine, north of

Ravensthorpe Ravensthorpe may refer to any of the following places. England *Ravensthorpe, Dewsbury in West Yorkshire **Ravensthorpe railway station, Dewsbury *Ravensthorpe, Northamptonshire *Ravensthorpe, Peterborough in Cambridgeshire *Ravensthorpe, an histor ...

in Western Australia, in November 2010.

was established in 1992 and listed on the

Australian Securities Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd or ASX, is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or confused within Australia as ...

in 2006.

Current situation

On 16 March 2016, Platypus Minerals and Lepidico executed a binding term sheet for the acquisition by Platypus of 100 percent of Lepidico. Lepidico is a company with lithium exploration assets and proprietary

metallurgical Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...

processing technology. From a policy perspective, the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government i ...

is encouraging investment in the lithium industry. As of 10 April 2019, The

Federal Government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

and the

State Government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, or ...

along with industry have agreed to fund a new modern national lithium research centre valued at $135 million which "will operate out of

Curtin University Curtin University, formerly known as Curtin University of Technology and Western Australian Institute of Technology (WAIT), is an Australian public research university based in Bentley, Perth, Western Australia. It is named after John Curtin, ...

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

", for $53 million. The facility aims to make Western Australia a hub for battery-making and research surrounding lithium battery manufacturing.

is a lithium chemicals supplier headquartered out of

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

. Its key lithium assets include the Olaroz Lithium facility, Cauchari Lithium Project and its processing facilities of

Borax Borax is a salt (ionic compound), a hydrated borate of sodium, with chemical formula often written . It is a colorless crystalline solid, that dissolves in water to make a basic solution. It is commonly available in powder or granular form, ...

Argentina S.A. It also has a 33.5 percent stake in Advantage Lithium. The company's lithium assets at Olaroz are owned by Sales de Jujuy, an Argentine company, which Orocobre has a 66.5 percent stake. The remaining partners on the project are

Toyota Tsusho Corporation is a sōgō shōsha (trading company), a member of the Toyota Group. Toyota Tsusho has a worldwide presence through its many subsidiaries and operating divisions, including over 150 offices, and 900 subsidiaries and affiliates around the world. ...

, who owns 22.5 percent and Jujuy Energia, 8.5 percent. In 2018,

raised A$361 million of capital "to fund the expansion of the Olaroz Lithium Project Stage 2 and construction of a

lithium hydroxide Lithium hydroxide is an inorganic compound with the formula LiOH. It can exist as anhydrous or hydrated, and both forms are white hygroscopic solids. They are soluble in water and slightly soluble in ethanol. Both are available commercially. While ...

plant in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

". According to Orocobre, "the lithium market experienced strong demand during FY18 encouraged by upward revisions to key forward indicators including EV plans of car manufacturers, further battery capacity expansions and growing investment supporting EV uptake and ESS development". Orocobre expects lithium demand to reach 800ktpa of

lithium carbonate Lithium carbonate is an inorganic compound, the lithium salt (chemistry), salt of carbonate with the chemical formula, formula . This white Salt (chemistry), salt is widely used in the processing of metal oxides. It is listed on the World Health O ...

by 2025. As of the first quarter 2018,

classification on the

is as a mining producing entity. The company has three main projects. Sal de Vida project is Galaxy's lithium brine project located in north-west

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, recognised globally "as one of the world's largest and highest quality, undeveloped

brine Brine is a high-concentration solution of salt (NaCl) in water (H2O). In diverse contexts, ''brine'' may refer to the salt solutions ranging from about 3.5% (a typical concentration of seawater, on the lower end of that of solutions used for br ...

deposits", is currently in development phase, with specialists in

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

, permitting and government attempting to establish the most economic process route. Mt Cattlin is the company's

project and

James Bay James Bay (french: Baie James; cr, ᐐᓂᐯᒄ, Wînipekw, dirty water) is a large body of water located on the southern end of Hudson Bay in Canada. Both bodies of water extend from the Arctic Ocean, of which James Bay is the southernmost par ...

is its lithium

pegmatite A pegmatite is an igneous rock showing a very coarse texture, with large interlocking crystals usually greater in size than and sometimes greater than . Most pegmatites are composed of quartz, feldspar, and mica, having a similar silicic com ...

project located in

Quebec, Canada Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirteen p ...

. Pilbara Minerals produces out of its Pilgangoora Lithium-

Tantalum Tantalum is a chemical element with the symbol Ta and atomic number 73. Previously known as ''tantalium'', it is named after Tantalus, a villain in Greek mythology. Tantalum is a very hard, ductile, lustrous, blue-gray transition metal that is ...

project located in Western Australia's

Pilbara The Pilbara () is a large, dry, thinly populated region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Aboriginal peoples; its ancient landscapes; the red earth; and its vast mineral deposits, in particular iron ore. It is also a glo ...

region. The site is located 120 km from

Port Hedland A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

. By 2018, the company had "attracted a group of high quality, experience global offtake partners including Gangfeng Lithium, General Lithium, Great Wall Motor Company and

POSCO POSCO (formerly Pohang Iron and Steel Company) is a South Korean steel-making company headquartered in Pohang, South Korea. It had an output of of crude steel in 2015, making it the world's fourth-largest steelmaker by this measure. In 2010, i ...

" as potential customers of its Pilgangoora project and was exploring options to scale the project.

"is an Australian based mining service, contracting, processing and commodities production company". Its

Wodgina The Wodgina mine is an exhausted iron ore mine located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, 90 kilometres south of Port Hedland. The mine was operated by Atlas Iron Limited. The facilities and tenements are shared, by contract, with Glo ...

lithium project has commenced sales of spodumene concentrate and Mt Marion has continued sales of spodumene concentrate to Ganfeng "pursuant to offtake arrangement". Altura Mining operates the Altura Lithium Mine at Pilgangoora in the

region of Western Australia. The mine produces 220ktpa of spodumene concentrate, commencing production in 2018. It completed a definitive feasibility study on a stage 2 expansion to 440ktpa in 2019. As of December 2020, the company planned to decide on whether to pursue the second phase of the project following a review of stage 1.

Finniss Lithium Project The Finnis Lithium Project is a lithium mine being developed near Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. The project is being developed by Core Lithium. The ore body was discovered in 2016, feasibility work was done ...

is being developed by

CORE Lithium : Finnis Lithium
retrieved 13 October 2022 having completed definitive feasibility study (DFS) in April 2019 with revisions in 2020 and 2021. The project will unfold in stages, initially with open-pit mining near Grants and Hang Gong, as well as underground mining at the Grants, BP33, and Carlton prospects. Estimated at 3.45 million tonnes (Mt) of mineral resource of 1.4 percent

lithium oxide Lithium oxide ( O) or lithia is an inorganic chemical compound. It is a white solid. Although not specifically important, many materials are assessed on the basis of their Li2O content. For example, the Li2O content of the principal lithium miner ...

. Major Project Status (MPS) was granted by the Australian government in March 2021, and battery-grade

was produced as part of the test works on

mineral concentrate sample from the project in April 2021. Construction began in 2021 and full operational mining commenced in October 2022, with initial export shipments expected in early 2023.

Tesla, Inc. Tesla, Inc. ( or ) is an American multinational automotive and clean energy company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Tesla designs and manufactures electric vehicles (electric cars and trucks), battery energy storage from home to grid- ...

has contracted for 110,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate over four years from the Finniss lithium mine.

Lithium production

Ravensthorpe location map in Western Australia

Orocobre's Olaroz Lithium Facility increased production in FY2018 by 5 percent to 12,740 tonnes. Olaroz produces

at an average operating cost of US$4,194/tonne in FY2018. "Throughout FY18 Orocobre and TTC progressed plans for a 10,000 tonnes per annum

Lithium Hydroxide Lithium hydroxide is an inorganic compound with the formula LiOH. It can exist as anhydrous or hydrated, and both forms are white hygroscopic solids. They are soluble in water and slightly soluble in ethanol. Both are available commercially. While ...

Plant to be built in Naraha, Japan".

Mt Cattlin operation in

produced 156,689 tonnes of lithium concentrate in 2018. Galaxy Resources has acquired new mine tenements which it seeks to actively explore in 2019. Galaxy resources

project contains approximately 40.3Mt at 1.4 percent lithium oxide. The site is currently in "pre-work engineering by Hydro-Quebec involving the design and construction of a powerline and connection

infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...

for future power supply to the project". Pilbara minerals commenced construction of its Pilgangoora project in January 2017 which was completed in late July 2018, producing its first lithium concentrate one month later. Pilbara Minerals delivered 111,199 dry metrics tonnes (dmt) to date for 2019 financial year with forecasted production for its March quarter between 47 and 52 thousand dmt. On 28 March Pilbara announced it will commence a partnering process to support its expansion of the Pilgangoora project. According to Mineral Resources 2019 half year report, 186 000 wet metric tonnes of

concentrate was delivered. Mineral Resources has affirmed it expects to meet production of 450 000 dry metric tonnes per annum. Specifically, year to date March 2019, Mt Marion production delivered 297kwmt at an average cost of A$596.8/wmt.

mine is currently not producing, however plant commissioning has commenced. Annual production from its Mt Marion and Wodgina mine is 450kt at 6 percent

and 750kt at 6 percent lithium oxide respectively. Project life for each mine is over 20 years and 30 years. Altura Mining has a global resource 50.5 million tonnes, "capable of supporting a mine life over 25 years". The company declared commercial production in March 2019. Annual production is at 220ktpa of 6 percent spodumene concentrate. Altura estimates the cost per tonne to be approximately $430 per tonne. Altura delivered 4 shipments in the December quarter totalling 24kdmt and expects that this can be sustained at 3 shipments per month. In its presentation to the Lithium and Battery Metals Conference, Altura stated "Shipments have exceeded customer expectations with grades as high as 6.3 percent."

Statistics

Mining in Australia by mineral Lithium mining In 2013,

produced 12,700 metric tonnes of lithium. In 2018, production reached 51,000Mt, providing an average year on year growth of approximately 32.05 percent. In 2013,

produced 11,200Mt of lithium. In 2018, production reached 16,000Mt, providing an average year on year growth of approximately 7.4 percent. In 2013,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

produced 4,700Mt of lithium. In 2018, production reached 8,000Mt, providing an average year on year growth of approximately 11.22 percent. Worldwide production increased by 74 percent from 2016 to 2017, predominantly due to a "threefold increase in Australia's spodumene production". According to the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

, "five spodumene operations in

and two brine operations each in

and

accounted for the majority of world lithium production". "The leading spodumene operation in

increased its spodumene concentrate production by about 40 percent in 2018 and remained the world's largest lithium producer".

Investment in Australian lithium mining companies

Lithium, being a

commodity In economics, a commodity is an economic good, usually a resource, that has full or substantial fungibility: that is, the market treats instances of the good as equivalent or nearly so with no regard to who produced them. The price of a comm ...

, means it must be mined or produced from lithium

s. The difference between hard-rock mining and brines is evident in the capital outlay required between the two projects. The capital outlay for hard-rock spodumene exceeds that of lithium brines. This plays a role when identifying whether a project is worth an investment or conversely, if it should be abandoned.

Market demand In economics, demand is the quantity of a good that consumers are willing and able to purchase at various prices during a given time. The relationship between price and quantity demand is also called the demand curve. Demand for a specific item ...

is another major factor. The rapid growth and expansion of the electric vehicle sector has caused a surge in demand for lithium to support the manufacturing of

lithium-ion batteries A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery which uses the reversible reduction of lithium ions to store energy. It is the predominant battery type used in portable consumer electronics and electric vehicles. It also se ...

. The surge in demand translates to higher revenues for existing and new market entrants, reported by the

"Pilbara Minerals managing director and chief executive Ken Brinsden said the demand for higher quality battery materials put WA in the drivers seat" The rising demand in the market for lithium "shows no signs of slowing" in Australia, which hosts the "highest economic concentrations of lithium via several hard rock deposits". However, as reported by the

Australian Financial Review ''The Australian Financial Review'' (abbreviated to the ''AFR'') is an Australian business-focused, compact daily newspaper covering the current business and economic affairs of Australia and the world. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New Sou ...

, as supply of lithium grows, the value of existing companies falls. Supply continues to grow as a royal settlement struck by Chilean producer SQM gives the company permission over the next 7 years to more than triple its production, also reported in the

, "but federal forecasts in the resources and energy quarterly found while WA will be pulling out a record 419,000 tonnes of lithium ore spodumene from the ground, it won’t reap the same high prices the industry has experienced."

References

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