NewsBite

Lithium

This Month

CATL’s Jianxiawo lithium mine is expected to account for about 3 per cent of global lithium production.

Lithium prices slump as Chinese giant eyes restart

Reports that battery giant CATL is preparing to reopen its Jianxiawo mine next month has triggered a sudden shake-up in the market for the commodity.

A lithium mine in Jiangxi province, China. The country is a major supplier of the commodity, along wtih Australia.

Lithium giant’s $43,000 price forecast gets local mining stocks racing

The comments from Ganfeng chairman Li Liangbin reported overnight, predicting a boom in demand for the battery material, pushed up lithium prices.

The Jadar Valley in Western Serbia, where Rio Tinto plans to build a 220-hectare lithium mine.

Rio ends two-decade Serbian lithium mining dream as cost cuts bite

The resources giant discovered deposits in the Jadar Valley in 2001, and announced plans for a major development in 2021, plans that were repeatedly delayed.

Mineral Resources’ lithium processing plant at Wodgina in Western Australia.

MinRes chair’s pay soars to $20m after scoring lithium deal with POSCO

The miner will sell 30 per cent of its lithium division to the Asian conglomerate in a move that will cut China’s dominance over Australian lithium.

xx

MinRes jumps; Oliver Curtis taps Wall St; ANZ’s risk chiefs exit

Read everything that’s happened in the news so far today.

Advertisement
AVZ Minerals’ proposed Manono lithium and tin mine has been in dispute for at least five years.

ASIC accuses fallen miner AVZ Minerals of misleading investors

Shareholders lost $2.8b when the lithium play delisted in 2024. The corporate watchdog says AVZ and two directors failed investors by keeping quiet about its legal troubles.

Battery storage is picking up the slack as EV growth evens out.

Booming battery demand to send ASX lithium stocks soaring

Spodumene prices closed above $US1000 a tonne for the first time in more than a year as investors turn increasingly bullish on the sector.

Albemarle CEO Kent Masters visits the Kemerton lithium hydroxide plant in 2022.

US lithium giant dashes hopes of WA processing plant revival

Albemarle has no plans to restart full operations at its partly mothballed Kemerton facility any time soon, marking another setback to the nation’s minerals processing dreams.

The lithium sector has faced numerous short squeezes in its lifetime.

ASX lithium stocks face short squeeze as prices surge

A 20 per cent rally in lithium prices over the past fortnight has forced reluctant hedge funds to cover their short positions, which could be “explosive” for the sector.

October

Lithium producer PLS has been upgraded to “overweight” by JPMorgan, sending its share price higher on Thursday.

ASX lithium stocks rip on broker upgrades

JPMorgan has raised its long-term lithium price forecasts sending Australia’s largest pure-play lithium stock Pilbara Minerals and Mineral Resources soaring.

Mineral Resources hit its target by shipping 8.6m tonnes from flagship Onslow operations over three months.

MinRes downplays lithium firesale talk after notching iron ore record

The embattled miner says it is still considering sales, but a stronger performance from its Onslow project has lessened the need to offload assets.

Production at Liontown Resources’ Kathleen Valley lithium mine started in July 2024.

Taxpayer-backed Liontown burns through cash after $363m raise

Investors punished its shares despite the loss-making miner edging closer to breaking even, as higher expenditure and lower revenues disappointed the market.

Lithium price floor could trigger ‘bad, unintended consequences’

Lithium miner PLS says taxpayer support for critical minerals should deliver permanent cost reductions through infrastructure, not revenue sugar hits.

Lithium miners have cooled on the idea of a price floor.

Lithium miners cool on Albanese government push for price floors

While rare earth hopefuls are enthusiastic about the prospect of the subsidy being discussed by federal officials, their lithium peers appear less united.

Thomas Nann is the co-founder and chief executive of Allegro Energy.

Allegro Energy a winner with its ‘super water’

Renewable technology company Allegro Energy has won the Innovation challenger category of the AFR’s Energy Awards with its battery technology.

Advertisement
A lithium battery catches fire on an Air China flight en route to South Korea.

Lithium battery fire on flight forces emergency landing

The battery spontaneously combusted while stored in the overhead luggage compartment in an Air China plane, but no injuries were reported.

Chris Ellison’s MinRes is no longer Wildcat’s white knight in shining armour.

MinRes-backed lithium player Wildcat Resources calls in MacCap

MinRes owns about 17.5per cent of Wildcat Resources, but is unlikely to pitch in for its funding needs amid a potential sale of its existing lithium mines.

Malcolm Bundey (left) took the chairman’s job at Chris Ellison’s Mineral Resource on July 1.

Chris Ellison loses key ally in sweeping MinRes board revamp

Zimi Meka becomes the latest director to head for the door as new chairman Malcolm Bundey pushes ahead with his daunting corporate governance clean-up job.

Mineral Resources’ headquarters in Perth. The company has been in a corporate governance crisis for months.

Chris Ellison’s MinRes calls in bankers to explore lithium assets sale

The Perth-headquartered mining and contracting group run by Chris Ellison has been under significant financial pressure and regulatory scrutiny over the year.

Resources Minister Madeleine King, WA Resources Minister David Michael and Liontown chief executive Tony Ottaviano at the Kathleen Valley project.

Ford slashes lithium deal with Gina Rinehart-backed Liontown

The US auto giant will not buy any of the taxpayer-funded WA miner’s lithium until at least 2029 despite being an early funder of the company.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/lithium-1m2j