Talison approves $516m Greenbushes expansion

Talison Lithium has confirmed it will build a third concentrator at the Greenbushes lithium mine to boost output to 1.95 million tonnes per annum, but the owner of tantalum rights at the project has again warned the expansion will be subject to an ongoing legal battle.

The Greenbushes mine is the world’s largest source of lithium, producing about 649,000 tonnes of concentrate in 2017, or 29 per cent of the global lithium supply.

It is operated by Talison, which is co-owned by Chinese company Tianqi Lithium and US-based Albemarle Corporation, both of which are either planning or building refining capacity in Western Australia.

In March last year, Talison ticked off a $320 million project to build a second concentrator, doubling capacity to be 1.3mtpa.

Completion is expected in April 2019.

Today’s decision means work on a third, 520,000tpa concentrator will start early next year, as part of a $516 million project.

There will be additional work to debottleneck the first two concentrators, unlocking a further 88,000tpa of capacity.

The plant will be ready for production in the December quarter of 2020.

A further, fourth concentrator could be commissioned by 2022, Talison said, pending board approval.

Business News has previously reported Talison had sought environmental approval for two new concentrators, and the project approved today will include infrastructure and crushing capacity to support two concentrators.

Talison chief executive Lorry Mignacca said work would commence once regulatory approvals were complete.

“Greenbushes is a truly world-class mining operation with the capacity for significant expansion to underpin the lithium supply needs of our shareholders, Tianqi Lithium and Albemarle,” he said.

“In addition to the major investment by Talison in Greenbushes, the expanded lithium concentrate production at Greenbushes will underpin the development of world-class lithium hydroxide production plants in Western Australia driven by Tianqi and Albemarle – underpinning a new value-adding and jobs-creating industry in this state.”

One major headache for Talison is from Global Advanced Metals, which owns the rights for tantalum mining at Greenbushes.

Global, which is headquartered in the United States but chaired by Perth-based private equity investor James McClements, is concerned that expanded lithium production would sterilise the tantalum contained at the mine.

The Supreme Court will hear an injunction against expansion of processing and mining at Greenbushes in October, after the company lodged the legal move last July.

Global chief executive Andrew O'Donovan said the company acknowledged the importance of lithium production in WA and was supportive of its development.

“However, contractually the expansion of Talison’s lithium production cannot be at the expense of Global’s rights to its tantalum and all other minerals at Greenbushes,” he said.

The Talison announcement came on the same day as Altura Mining revealed it had produced first concentrate at its Pilgangoora mine.

That is 16 months after work on the project started, with the first shipment expected in August.

The Pilgangoora concentrator plant will push out about 220,000tpa of lithium, while a definitive feasibility study released in April found a doubling of capacity to 440,000tpa would deliver a strong return.

Altura managing director James Brown said the company had been on a stringent and aggressive timetable for the first-stage project.

“As with any development, there are obstacles which occur, however the entire team has worked tirelessly to be in the position we are in today, where we are in sight of delivering our first shipment of concentrate,” Mr Brown said.

“Our focus now is to ramp-up production to full capacity over coming 6 months and then we can turn our attention to the expansion project.

“This is a very exciting time to be an Altura shareholder.”

Yesterday, Pilbara Minerals, which also operates a mine at Pilgangoora, revealed it had produced its first coarse concentrate, after last month pumping out its first fines concentrate.

About 1,000t has been produced so far, with first shipment pencilled in for August.