Wesfarmers, SQM approve $2bn Mt Holland lithium project
A new project that will extract battery-grade lithium from Mt Holland in WA has been given the green light.
Conglomerate Wesfarmers has given the green light to its $2bn Mt Holland lithium project in Western Australia, a year after it delayed the project to boost its long term value.
Wesfarmers and its Chilean partner SQM approved a final investment decision that involves the construction of a mine and concentrator at Mt Holland and a lithium hydroxide refinery in Kwinana, south of Perth.
Both companies will tip in $900m each, with full funding to be committed upon receiving environmental approvals for the Kwinana refinery that are expected in early 2022.
An updated feasibility study has handed the joint venture greater certainty over the engineering design and costs while also increasing capacity to 50,000 tonnes a year of battery grade lithium hydroxide, up from 45,000 tonnes previously.
A second phase expansion of the project is also baked into the new feasibility study.
Construction of the mine, concentrator and refinery is expected to start in the first half of the 2022 financial year with initial production due in the second half of 2024.
Wesfarmers paid $776m for Kidman Resources in 2019 to secure access to Mt Holland. It also gained a partnership with global lithium giant SQM, which has its foot on about 17 per cent of world supply of the battery-making material, giving Wesfarmers access to expertise in building, running and marketing lithium hydroxide products.