Pilbara Minerals plans to weather the lithium rout by suspending one of its two processing plants in Western Australia and reducing production of the battery material until the commodity price recovers.

Australia’s largest pure-play lithium miner will shed about 50 workers as part of its decision to mothball the plant, and redeploy the remaining 50 employees from the facility across its operations, in the latest setback for Australia’s struggling critical minerals sector.