Lithium Mines in Australia (Updated 2024)

As the top lithium producer globally, Australia is home to many lithium mines. Learn about their operations and which companies are running them.

Greenbushes open-pit lithium mine in Western Australia.

David Steele / Shutterstock

As the world’s largest lithium producer and exporter, Australia is positioned to take full advantage of demand, with many lithium mines and processing plants.

An impressive 47 percent of the world’s lithium production comes from Australia, and by 2029, the country's revenue from exporting the commodity is expected to reach a value of more than AU$10.43 billion. While prices for the battery metal have fallen off from recent highs, some experts believe that the green energy transition will allow lithium to maintain momentum well into the future.

Lithium is most often found in the mineral spodumene, from which it must be extracted, processed and refined. It is used in aluminium or magnesium alloys for applications such as building aircraft or trains, serving as a strengthening and lightening agent.

But a key use of lithium is in rechargeable batteries for electronic devices such as cell phones, cameras, laptops and, of course, electric vehicles (EVs). It is the last of these applications that has investors most excited — lithium is critical to EV production, as its unique properties help create the lightweight batteries they need to function.

Demand for EVs is on the rise as automakers bring new electric lines to market. BloombergNEF expects global passenger EV sales to increase 21 percent in 2024 to reach 16.7 million units, and 70 percent of those units are expected to be fully electric.

Currently, 80 percent of lithium consumption worldwide is attributed to rechargeable battery manufacturing, representing an excellent opportunity for Australia, the world’s top lithium producer. The nation has already seen recent successes due to the EV boom, and with analysts bullish on lithium's future, the nation is ready to capitalise on the growing market.

With all of these factors in mind, investors may be wise to look toward lithium mines in Australia.

Where are Australia's largest lithium mines?

Most of lithium resources in Australia are located in Western Australia, where there are several robust hard-rock deposits. A typical lithium deposit in Australia will have a grade of between 1 and 3 percent lithium oxide.

Lithium mined in Australia comes mainly from spodumene, though it can be found in other minerals as well, such as lepidolite. In 2023, Australia reported total output of 86,000 tonnes of lithium, above its 2022 total of 74,700 tonnes. The country’s lithium production numbers first began spiking around 2018 thanks to accelerating output from two spodumene projects launched in 2017.

Australia's lithium mines

The Australian lithium mines below are driving the country's position as the world's largest producer of the important battery metal.

The lithium mines are arranged in alphabetical order. Mine information and data is sourced from the mining database MDO. Some companies in this list report production using a fiscal year (FY) ended June 30.

1. Finniss lithium mine

Status: Temporary suspension
Operations: 1 open-pit mine and 1 lithium concentrate processing plant
FY2024 production: 95,020 tonnes spodumene concentrate
Proven and probable reserves: 9.3 million tonnes at 1.38 percent lithium oxide (Li2O)

The Finniss lithium mine, owned by Core Lithium (ASX:CXO,OTC Pink:CXOXF), is the only lithium mine on this list located outside of Western Australia. The Northern Territory-based mine produced its first spodumene lithium concentrate in February 2023.

Operations at the Grants open-pit mine as well as a final investment decision at the BP33 underground project, a potential second mine at Finniss, are both on hold as of early 2024 on a weakening outlook for lithium prices. Despite the setbacks, the company is focused on establishing Finniss as a multi-mine operation. Core is working on a restart study, which it expects to complete in the first half of calendar 2025.

2. Greenbushes lithium mine

Status: Operating
Operations: 1 open-pit mine and 4 processing plants
FY2024 production: 1.38 million tonnes spodumene concentrate
Proven and probable reserves: 179 million tonnes at 1.9 percent Li2O

The Greenbushes mine is operated by Talison Lithium, a 51/49 joint venture owned by Tianqi Lithium Energy Australia and Albemarle (NYSE:ALB). The first of the two partners is itself a 51/49 joint venture between Tianqi Lithium (SZSE:002466) and IGO (ASX:IGO,OTC Pink:IPGDF).

Launched in 1983 and processing lithium since 1985, Greenbushes is the longest continuously operated mining area in Western Australia. Since then, the Greenbushes mine has expanded greatly, and is the largest operational lithium mine globally. Currently, a third chemical plant is under construction and will have a production capacity of 500,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate with completion anticipated in the 2025 fiscal year.

3. Kathleen Valley lithium mine

Status: Operating
Operations: Open-pit and underground mines, spodumene concentrate plant
Projected average annual production: 608,000 tonnes spodumene concentrate
Proven and probable reserves: 68.5 million tonnes at 1.54 percent Li2O

Kathleen Valley is another lithium mine newly operating in Australia. Owned by Liontown Resources (ASX:LTR,OTC Pink:LINRF), the mine came online in July 2024. It is expected to produce approximately 500,000 MT per year of spodumene concentrate by the end of Q1 2025, with an expansion planned in year six to bring its production to 700,000 MT per year.

Liontown made its first shipment of spodumene concentrate in September following the commencement of spot spodumene sales to an existing offtake customer. This inaugural shipment was comprised of 11,855 wet metric tonnes of spodumene concentrate with a weighted average concentrate grade of 5.2 percent lithium oxide.

4. Mount Cattlin lithium mine

Status: Operating
Operations: 1 open-pit mine
2023 production: 239,000 tonnes spodumene concentrate
Proven and probable reserves: 5.74 million tonnes at 1.2 percent Li2O

The Mount Cattlin mine is comprised of a pegmatite type deposit hosting both lithium and tantalum and started production in 2010. The asset is soon set to become a part of Rio Tinto's (ASX:RIO,NYSE:RIO,LSE:RIO) diverse global mining portfolio as part of the mining giant's US$6.7 billion proposed acquisition of the mine's owner Arcadium Lithium (NYSE:ALTM).

In September 2024, Allkem, a wholly owned subsidiary of Arcadium Lithium, announced plans to suspend Stage 4A waste stripping and any expansionary investment beyond Stage 3 at Mt Cattlin and place the mine into care and maintenance by the end of H1 2025 following the completion of Stage 3 mining and ore processing.

5. Mount Holland lithium mine

Status: Operating
Operations: 1 open-pit mine, 1 spodumene concentrate facility, 1 lithium hydroxide refinery
2023 production: 15,000 tonnes spodumene concentrate in Q4
Proven and probable reserves: 83.9 million tonnes at 1.57 percent lithium oxide

One major new lithium operation on the scene is the Mount Holland lithium mine, known as one of the world’s largest hard-rock deposits. It is owned by Covalent Lithium, a 50/50 joint venture between Wesfarmers (ASX:WES,OTC Pink:WFAFF) and SQM (NYSE:SQM).

Spodumene production recently began in Q4 2023, with expected annual production of 380,000 tonnes. The company's Kwinana lithium refinery is now under construction. Once the full site is online in 2025, Covalent anticipates annual production of approximately 50,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide.

6. Mount Marion lithium mine

Status: Operating
Operations: 1 open-pit mine, 1 spodumene concentrate plant
FY2024 production: 658 million tonnes spodumene concentrate
Proven and probable reserves: 35.7 million tonnes at an average grade of 1.42 percent lithium oxide

Another key lithium mine in Australia is Mount Marion, a 50/50 joint venture between Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN,OTC Pink:MALRF) and Ganfeng Lithium (OTC Pink:GNENF,SZSE:002460,HKEX:1772), with the former as the operator. The mine is located in the Yilgarn Craton, southwest of Kalgoorlie.

The mine came online in 2017. The joint venture partners completed upgrades to Mount Marion's annual plant capacity to 900,000 tonnes in 2023. As of June 2024, underground development is now underway at Mount Marion with first production from this new phase in the mine's operations beginning by the end of 2025.

7. Pilgangoora lithium mine

Status: Operating
Operations: 1 open-pit mine and 2 spodumene concentrate plants
FY2024 production: 725,329 tonnes spodumene concentrate
Proven and probable reserves: 214 million tonnes at 1.19 percent lithium oxide

The Pilgangoora project, which is fully owned by Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS,OTC Pink:PILBF), is located in Western Australia’s Pilbara region, close to Port Hedland. The Pilgangoora orebody is one of the largest lithium deposits globally.

Additionally, Pilgangoora has 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 project is undergoing further expansion initiatives, P680 and P1000, slated for completion in 2025 as the company aims to tap into the full potential of its lithium reserves.

Pilbara Minerals started the next stage of the Pilgangoora plant expansion in March 2023, making the decision to increase the production capacity of the Pilgangoora project by about 47 percent, from 680,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate per annum to 1,000,000 tonnes per annum. Pilbara completed a pre-feasibility study in June 2024 showing that the expansion project could produce an average of 1.9 million tonnes of spodumene concentrate annually for the first 10 years.

8. Wodgina lithium mine

Status: Operating
Operations: 1 open-pit mine and 1 lithium hydroxide plant
FY2024 production: 424,000 tonnes spodumene concentrate and 36,768 tonnes lithium hydroxide
Proven and probable reserves: 164.6 million tonnes at 1.15 percent lithium oxide

Launched in 2017, the Wodgina mine was placed on care and maintenance a mere two years later. Mineral Resources and Albemarle created the MARBL joint venture to bring Wodgina back online as the lithium market heated back up, and it reentered production in 2022 with Mineral Resources as the operator.

Mineral Resources signed an agreement in February 2023 to increase its ownership from 40 percent to 50 percent, with Albemarle owning the remaining interest as well as a 100 percent stake in the lithium hydroxide processing plant.

Thanks to the production from both Mount Marion and Wodgina, Mineral Resources reached a new record for spodumene production shipments in its 2024 fiscal year.

This is an updated version of an article first published by the Investing News Network in 2022.

Don’t forget to follow us @INN_Australia for real-time updates!

Securities Disclosure: I, Melissa Pistilli, currently hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

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Melissa Pistilli

Educational Content Specialist

Melissa Pistilli has been reporting on the markets and educating investors since 2006. She has covered a wide variety of industries in the investment space including mining, cannabis, tech and pharmaceuticals. She helps to educate investors about opportunities in a variety of growth markets. Melissa holds a bachelor's degree in English education as well as a master's degree in the teaching of writing, both from Humboldt State University, California.

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