The mine took just 18 months to construct, which Altura’s Managing Director James Brown said was testament to the drive and passion of all parties involved. He said they were now in a strong position to benefit from the robust lithium market fundamentals they were seeing globally. “Our operations team have been able to deliver encouraging results from the mine and processing plant to allow us to commence trucking our spodumene product to Port Hedland during August," he said. "The immediate focus of Altura is to load our initial spodumene cargo with the vessel due for arrival in the middle of this month.” In 2017 lithium WA lithium sales reached $780 million and the sector employed more than 1,200 people. Mines and Petroleum Minister Bill Johnston officially opened the mine and said the state's aim was to help companies like Altura develop a world-leading lithium industry. Loading Beyond just exporting lithium the state government's lithium and energy materials industry taskforce is investigating the state's ability to produce and process lithium and other energy materials. The taskforce will present a lithium and energy materials strategy to cabinet over the next few months. Mr Johnston said by expanding further into the battery materials value chain, the state would further diversify the WA economy.
The seventh lithium mine in Western Australia, the Pilgangoora, has been opened by Altura Mining. It is expected to produce 220,000 tonnes of lithium spodumene concentrate each year and production could double if needed to meet growing demand for batteries, the company said. Last year lithium sales from the state reached AUD780m ($560m). The Pilgangoora deposit has reserves estimated at 41.1 million tonnes. The lithium will be taken to Port Headland for export; however, the state government’s lithium and energy materials industry taskforce is exploring how Western Australia could process lithium as well as produce it.