The only profitable lithium mine in Australia revealed

According to The Australian Financial Review, every Australian lithium mine is losing money at today’s prices except for Western Australia’s famously low-cost Greenbushes, which could withstand a deeper commodity price rout, according to broker Citi.
Greenbushes is a joint venture 49 per cent-owned by US-listed Albemarle, and 51 per cent by ASX-listed IGO and China’s Tianqi.
The world’s biggest hard rock lithium mine is the only one of Australia’s seven producing lithium projects to be profitable, the broker argued, based on its analysis of their running costs at spot prices.
UBS warns the lithium sector will face a wave of mine closures as prices for the battery material struggle despite some companies putting projects on ice to sit out the bear market.
Prices for the lithium ore typical of Australia have collapsed more than 23 per cent over the past 45 days, fetching $US720 a tonne ($1066) on September 2, according to S&P Global’s Platts. That ore, which is spodumene concentrate with 6 per cent lithium content, was fetching more than $US8000 a tonne in 2022.

https://www.afr.com/companies/mining/the-only-profitable-lithium-mine-in-australia-revealed-20240903-p5k7gh
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