MinRes Reboots Bald Hill Lithium Mine to Capitalize on Price Rally

Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN,OTCPL:MALRF) will restart its Bald Hill lithium mine in Western Australia following an 18-month freeze, moving rapidly to capitalize on a 50 percent year-to-date rebound in global lithium prices.

The Perth-based miner announced that it will bring the fully owned Goldfields-region site back online after placing it on care and maintenance in November 2024.

Now, a fierce price rally has altered the economics. Lithium carbonate prices have surged this year, breaking a multi-year downtrend as global markets grapple with structural supply bottlenecks, including widespread mine suspensions in China and sudden raw mineral export bans in Zimbabwe.

“With strong and sustained demand for spodumene concentrate driving a significant recovery in prices, the time is right to restart operations at Bald Hill,” MinRes Managing Director Chris Ellison said in a statement.

Site activity will ramp up in late May, with crushing and mining operations slated to begin in June. MinRes is targeting its first production of spodumene concentrate by July.

To hit the accelerated timeline, the company will draw on existing site inventory and deploy its internal mining services division to handle the site's crushing, processing, and haulage without relying on external contractors.

Initial shipments out of the Port of Esperance are expected in the first quarter of fiscal 2027, with the mine reaching full capacity in the subsequent quarter. Once fully ramped, Bald Hill has a production capacity of roughly 165,000 dry metric tons of 5.1 per cent spodumene concentrate per year, backed by a mineral resource of 58.1 million tons.

“The combination of a high-quality, production-ready asset and the in-house capability of our mining services business means MinRes is well-placed to rapidly capitalise on the resurgent lithium market,” Ellison added.

Once Bald Hill returns to commercial production, the company will also elevate its footprint to become the only miner globally operating three distinct hard rock lithium mines, each equipped with its own dedicated spodumene concentrate facility.

MinRes currently operates the heavy-weight Wodgina and Mt Marion mines in joint ventures with Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) and Ganfeng Lithium (HKEX:1772,OTCPL:GNENF), respectively.

Despite the growth posture, MinRes shares slipped 1 percent in Australian trading Monday (May 18) due to broader weakness across the critical minerals sector. The muted market reaction also follows recent disclosures that Ellison sold a block of his personal shares in the company—his first stock sale since 2017—citing personal financial reasons.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.