Western Australia has five of the world's largest lithium mines, with total reserves of more than 475.24 million tons (Mt). Mining Technology ranks the top ten lithium mines in the world according to the proved reserves and possible reserves.
The Sonora Lithium Project in Mexico is the largest lithium deposit being developed by Sonora Lithium (SLL), a joint venture between Bacanora Minerals (77.5%) and Ganfeng Lithium (22.5%). The mine is estimated to have 243.8Mt of proved and approximate reserves, including 4.5Mt of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE). The bank feasibility study of La Ventana concession will account for 88% of the ore mined in the project, and the initial mine life is estimated to be 19 years. Sonora will be an open-air operation, which is planned to be developed in two stages. The capacity of lithium carbonate in the first stage is 17500 tons (tpa) per year. The second stage will double the production capacity to 35000 tons per year.
Thacker Pass Lithium Project is located in Humboldt County, Nevada, USA. It is 100% owned by Lithium Americas. The mine is estimated to contain 179.4Mt of proved and potential reserves, including 3.1Mt of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE). The mine is expected to have a life cycle of 46 years. The pre-feasibility study (PFS) of the project was completed in August 2018, and the open-pit mining method was proposed for two phases of mine development. The first phase is expected to be put into operation in 2022, with an annual capacity of 30000 tons of battery grade lithium carbonate, and the second phase is expected to increase its capacity to 60000 tons, with the production date of 2026.
Wodgina Lithium Project is located 100 kilometers southeast of Port Hedland, Western Australia. The mine was 100% owned by the mineral resources company in the early stage. In August 2019, the company reached an agreement with Albemarle Corporation to establish a 60:40 joint venture to develop the mine. The estimated reserves of the open pit mine are 151.94 metric tons, and the lithium oxide grade is 1.17%. At present, spodumene concentrate plants are under construction. The first one will be put into operation in June 2019, and the remaining three will be put into operation in 2020. It is expected that the ore will be produced in the first quarter of 2020. After production, Wodgina is expected to produce 833000 wet tons (750000 dry tons) of 6% spodumene concentrate annually.
The Pilgangoora lithium tantalum project is located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The mine is 100% owned and operated by Pilbara Minerals.
The proved and possible reserves of the mine are estimated to be 108.2Mt, with grades of 1.25% lithium oxide and 120 ppm Ta2O5 and 1.17% Fe2O3. The final feasibility study (DFS) of the project was completed in September 2016, and commercial production was realized in April 2019.
The mine is expected to produce 320000 tons/year 6% spodumene concentrate by open-pit mining. Pilbara Minerals plans to expand the mine in Phase II to increase its capacity to 5Mtpa, enabling it to produce 850000tpa of 6% spodumene concentrate.
Early Gray Lithium Project, also known as Mt Holland Lithium Project, is located in the Forestinia Greenstone belt in Mt Holland, Western Australia. It is owned by Kidman Resources (50%) and Sociedad Qu í mica y Minera de Chile (SQM, 50%) under a joint venture named Coinent Lithium. The mine is estimated to contain 94.5Mt of proved and potential reserves, with a grade of 1.5% lithium oxide. The PFS of the project was completed in December 2018, while DFS is currently in progress. The mine is expected to produce 411233 tons of spodumene concentrate per year in its 47-year mine life after being put into operation in 2020.
Greenbushes Lithium Project is located in Greenbushes, Western Australia. It is owned by Tianqi Lithium, a Chinese mining company, and operated by Talison Lithium, 51% of which is owned by Tianqi Lithium. The mine is estimated to contain 86.4Mt of proved and potential reserves, with a lithium oxide grade of 2.35%. It has installed two processing plants to produce industrial and chemical grade lithium concentrates. The second chemical-grade lithium processing plant will be put into operation in 2019, which will double the processing capacity of the mine to 1.3 Mtpa of lithium concentrate. The construction of the third processing plant began in the third quarter of 2019.
The Whabouchi lithium project is located in the James Bay area in central Quebec, Canada. It is 100% owned and operated by Nemaska Lithium, a Canadian mining company. The mine is estimated to contain 36.6Mt of proved and approximate reserves, with lithium oxide grade of 1.3%. It is planned to use open-pit and underground mining methods for development in its 33 year mine life. Underground mining will be carried out in the 26th year after the open-pit reserves are exhausted. Wabouchi is expected to produce 205000 tons of concentrate annually. After obtaining financing, construction will begin in November 2019.
Altura Mining's 100% equity Pilgangoora lithium mine is located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The mine is estimated to contain 34.2 metric tons of proved and approximate reserves, with a grade of 1.04% lithium oxide. The expected life of the mine is 13 years. Open pit operations are developed in two stages. The first phase was put into production at the beginning of 2019, with an estimated annual production of 220000 tons of spodumene concentrate. Altura has completed the DFS of the second phase expansion of the mine, which will increase the annual capacity to 440000 tons/year. The second stage is expected to be carried out after obtaining the long-term off-take agreement and the necessary funds, and then the first production is expected to be carried out within 18 months.
Goulamina Lithium Project is 100% owned and operated by Australian mining company Mali Lithium. It is located in Buguni area in the south of Mali, and is planned to be developed by open-pit mining.
The estimated reserves of the mine are 31.2Mt, the lithium oxide grade is 1.56%, the indicated and inferred resources are 103Mt, and the Li 2O grade is 1.34%. The mine is expected to operate for 16 years and the concentrate capacity is 362000 tons/year
Mali Lithium has completed the pre-feasibility study (PFS) of the project and is currently carrying out DFS. The final investment decision of the project will be made in the second half of 2020.
Arcadia Lithium Project is an open-pit mine located 38 km from Harare, Zimbabwe. It is owned and operated by Prospect Resources, an Australian mining company (now acquired by Huayou Cobalt).
The mine is estimated to have 29.8 tons of proved and approximate reserves and 1.31% of lithium oxide grade. The mine life is expected to be 12 years, with an average annual output of 212000 tons of 6% spodumene concentrate, 216000 tons of pervious feldspar concentrate and 188000 pounds of tantalum. The DFS of the project was completed in November 2018. The mine has now been put into operation.
Lithium is a key component of batteries and other electronic products, and has become more and more popular worldwide - especially rechargeable lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicle manufacturing and large-scale battery storage. With the acceleration of energy transformation, these manufacturing trends are expected to accelerate in the next few years, and the interest in this silvery white metal will continue to grow. Analysts predict that global demand will more than double by 2024.
According to the data of the United States Geological Survey (USGS), it can be divided into four major lithium reserves by country/region, namely Chile, Australia, Argentina and China.
Global lithium reserves by country/region by 2021 (1000 metric tons)
Chile is the second largest lithium producer in 2020, with an output of 18000 metric tons (MT), but its reserves rank first in the world. It is reported that the country has most of the "economically exploitable" lithium reserves in the world, and its Salar de Atacama has about 37% of the global lithium reserves base. SQM is the main lithium producer of the Atacama salt marsh in Chile. In 2018, it finally reached a long-awaited agreement with the country's development agency Corfo on royalties. Albemarle is another top lithium producer in Chile. Despite short-term fluctuations, the company is optimistic about long-term lithium demand.
Although Australia is the world's largest lithium producer in 2020, it ranks second in terms of reserves of important commodities. This country is the location of the Greenbushes Lithium Project, which is operated by Talison Lithium, a subsidiary jointly owned by lithium producers Tianqi Lithium and Albemarle and Australian nickel gold miner IGO. The project is known as the longest continuous mining area and has been in operation for more than 25 years. In recent years, Greenbushes has been taking multiple expansion as its theme.
Argentina is the fourth largest lithium producer in the world, producing 6200 tons of lithium in 2020. Its lithium reserves also rank third in the world, with 2200000 tons. It is worth noting that Chile, Argentina and Bolivia form the "lithium triangle", with more than half of the world's lithium reserves. The Argentine government recently promised to invest up to US $1 billion in its lithium industry in the next three years, with the goal of increasing lithium production.
China has 150000 tons of lithium reserves and 14000 tons of lithium in 2020. This is an increase of 3200 metric tons over the previous year. At present, China still imports most of its lithium from Australia, but increasing domestic production may end this dependence.
Due to the electronics manufacturing and electric vehicle industry, China's lithium consumption is very high. China also produces nearly two-thirds of the world's lithium-ion batteries and controls most of the world's lithium processing facilities.
In 2020, the spot price of lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide in China rebounded from the low point in 2019. After lithium is extracted from lithium deposits, it is usually processed into lithium compounds, usually lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide, and then used for lithium-ion batteries.
Although Chile, Australia, Argentina and China have the highest lithium reserves in the world, other countries also have large amounts of lithium metal. The following are lithium reserves in other countries/regions:
United States-750000 metric tons
Canada - 530000 metric tons
Zimbabwe - 220000 metric tons
Brazil - 95000 metric tons
Portugal - 60000 metric tons
Overall, the total global lithium reserves are 19155000 metric tons. If the lithium industry continues to grow, global lithium production will need to follow up, and perhaps some countries with high reserves will become more important participants.
