7 Biggest Lithium-mining Companies in 2023

Market cap: US$34 billion

Albemarle is one of the largest lithium producers in the world, with 5,000 employees and customers in 100 different countries globally. Besides lithium, Albemarle produces bromine and provides refining solutions and chemistry services for pharmaceutical firms.

When Albemarle closed its acquisition of Rockwood Holdings in early 2015, it became a lithium heavyweight. The company owns lithium brine operations in Clayton Valley near Silver Peak in the US, as well as in the Salar de Atacama in Chile. As mentioned, it owns a 49 percent stake in the massive hard-rock Greenbushes mine.

In 2018, Albemarle announced that its request for an increase in its lithium quota had been approved by Corfo, a Chilean governmental organization. The company is now authorized to produce up to 145,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent per year in Chile until 2043. The company’s La Negra III and IV processing facilities in Chile are now generating revenue.

Albemarle signed a deal in 2019 to invest US$1.15 billion in a joint venture with Mineral Resources (MinRes) (ASX:MIN,OTC Pink:MALRF) to create the MARBL joint venture, which will own and operate the Wodgina hard-rock lithium mine in Western Australia. After previously being put on care and maintenance, Wodgina was restarted by the joint venture and saw first production in May 2022. The Kemerton I and II lithium hydroxide modules at the site had both achieved mechanical completion as of the end of 2022.

Albemarle received US$150 million in October 2022 to help fund a commercial-scale lithium concentrator facility in North Carolina; the money came as part of a new US battery supply chain grant program. The facility will supply lithium to the company’s upcoming Albemarle Technology Park, which will also be in North Carolina.

In late 2022, the company completed its acquisition of Guangxi Tianyuan New Energy Materials, which owns a lithium conversion facility that can convert 25,000 metric tons (MT) of lithium carbonate equivalent per year.

Market cap: US$25.59 billion

SQM claims to have a leading position in lithium and derivatives, holding a 19 percent market share. With offices in over 20 countries and customers in 110 nations, the firm has five business areas, ranging from lithium to potassium to specialty plant nutrition.

SQM’s primary lithium business is in Chile. The company has butted heads with Chile’s Corfo over its leases in the Salar de Atacama, where the company’s lithium brine operations are located, but the two parties came to a resolution in January 2018.

In 2016, SQM and Lithium Americas (TSX:LAC,NYSE:LAC) said they would develop the Cauchari-Olaroz lithium project in Argentina, marking SQM’s first investment in the raw material outside of Chile. Two years later, Ganfeng purchased SQM’s stake in the project.

Outside of South America, SQM is developing the Mount Holland lithium project in Australia, which is known as one of the world’s largest hard-rock mining deposits. Mount Holland is a joint venture with Wesfarmers (ASX:WES,OTC Pink:WFAFF), which took over Australian lithium-mining company Kidman Resources.

SQM forecasted that its sales volume in 2022 would exceed 140,000 MT, with only 20 percent of sales expected to be in fixed contract prices or at variable prices with specific floors and ceilings. By the end of the year's third quarter, all sales volumes for the year had been contracted and SQM had already sold 112,000 MT.

Market cap: US$23.01 billion

Ganfeng Lithium is an important Chinese lithium producer. It is China’s largest lithium compound producer, and is one of the world’s largest lithium metal producers in terms of production capacity.

The mining company has interests in lithium resources around the world, including in Australia, Argentina, China and Ireland, but its primary source of lithium raw materials is Mount Marion in Western Australia, which is a 50/50 joint venture with MinRes.

The company listed in Hong Kong in 2018, the same year it bought SQM’s stake in Lithium Americas’ Cauchari-Olaroz lithium brine project in Argentina. In February 2020, Ganfeng upped its interest in Cauchari-Olaroz to 51 percent, taking a controlling stake in the asset. Ganfeng has supply deals with companies such as Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), BMW (OTC Pink:BMWYY,ETR:BMW), Korean battery maker LG Chem (KRX:051910) and Volkswagen (OTC Pink:VLKAF,FWB:VOW).

In 2021, Ganfeng continued to expand. The company agreed to buy the shares it did not already own in Mexico-focused Bacanora Lithium for US$264.5 million; it also bought a 50 percent stake in a lithium mine in Mali for US$130 million, as well as a 49 percent stake in a salt lake project in China owned by China Minmetals for 1.47 billion yuan.

In mid-2022, the company continued its purchasing spree, with its eyes set again on Argentina. Ganfeng said it would buy private company Lithea, which owns the rights to two lithium salt lakes in Salta province, for up to US$962 million.

Market cap: US$22.8 billion

Lithium producer Tianqi Lithium, a subsidiary of Chengdu Tianqi Industry Group, headquartered in China, is the world’s largest hard-rock lithium producer. The company has assets located in Australia, Chile and China.

In 2012, Tianqi beat out Rockwood Holdings to take control of Talison Lithium, which runs the Greenbushes mine in Australia. However, it subsequently sold a 49 percent interest in Talison to Rockwood Holdings, which, as mentioned, is now owned by Albemarle. Tianqi paid US$209.6 million for a 2.1 percent stake in SQM in September 2016, which it then boosted to 23.77 percent for US$4.07 billion in 2018. The company has developed a lithium hydroxide plant in the Kwinana Industrial Area south of Perth in Western Australia. The facility launched production in Q3 2019, and first output took place in mid-2021.

In 2020, Tianqi sold a stake in its Australian assets to IGO in a US$1.4 billion deal, giving a boost to the then financially troubled Chinese company. The deal gave IGO a 25 percent interest in Greenbushes and a 49 percent interest in Kwinana. With lithium prices on the rise, Tianqi returned to profit in Q2 2021, posting its highest quarterly net profit since late 2018 in the third quarter.

In July 2022, the company listed in Hong Kong, raising about US$1.7 billion in its debut. Commercial production at Kwinana began in December 2022 from Train 1 of the facility, and Train 2 is expected to be commissioned in 2024. The hydroxide plant is being fed by lithium from Greenbushes, and should have a production capacity of 48,000 MT per year once both trains are online.

Market cap: US$12.18 billion

Australia-based MinRes is a commodities company mining lithium and iron ore in the country. As previously mentioned, both of MinRes’ lithium mines are joint ventures with other companies on this list.

MinRes owns 50 percent of the Mount Marion lithium operation, which is a joint venture with Ganfeng Lithium. The joint venture commenced in 2009 between MinRes and NeoMetals (ASX:NMT,OTC Pink:RRSSF), but the agreement changed multiple times over the years, eventually becoming the 50/50 agreement with Ganfeng it is today. Production of lithium concentrate began at Mount Marion in 2017 and all mining is managed by MinRes, which also has a 51 percent share of the output from the spodumene concentrator at the site.

The company’s other mine is the Wodgina hard-rock lithium mine in Western Australia, which is operated under the MARBL 60/40 joint venture; Albemarle owns the larger interest. Put on care and maintenance in 2019, Wodgina entered production in May 2022 following its restart. The companies are currently working to bring the Kemerton lithium hydroxide plant online as well.

Market cap: US$10.2 billion

Pilbara Minerals operates its 100 percent owned Pilgangoora lithium-tantalum asset in Western Australia. The operation consists of two processing plants: the Pilgan plant, located on the northern side of the Pilgangoora area, which produces a spodumene concentrate and a tantalite concentrate; and the Ngungaju plant, located to the south, which produces a spodumene concentrate.

The company, which hit commercial production in 2019, has partnerships with Ganfeng Lithium, General Lithium, Great Wall Motor Company (OTC Pink:GWLLF,HKEX:2333), POSCO (NYSE:PKX), CATL (SZSE:300750) and Yibin Tianyi.

In 2021, Pilbara Minerals acquired Altura Lithium following a cash payment of US$155 million. In February 2022, the company posted its first half-year profit of AU$114 million on the back of strong demand for lithium.

Pilbara is currently working on multiple expansion projects at Pilgangoora. Its P680 expansion is for a primary rejection facility and a crushing and ore-sorting facility; commissioning for both is expected to be completed by the end of 2023, and the former should be at full capacity by then as well. The P1000 expansion is targeting raising spodumene production capacity at the site to 1,000 MT per year.