...lithium hodlers would have you believe that as more of these lithium projects are placed under C&M, lithium price has better hope of recovery.
...what they don't realise or not acknowledging is that the Chinese are getting their lithium from new sources domestically and from South America and Africa....these shutdowns don't affect the supply they need.
...Yes, Australian lithium has no hold on China, not the way iron ore has. Lithium is not Iron Ore.
Core Lithium shuts Northern Territory mine as it hopes for recovery in global prices
Core Lithium suspended mining in January and has since processed all its remaining stockpiles.
Lithium prices have dropped by about 85 per cent in the past 18 months. What's next?
Lithium prices are not expected to recover in the short term but demand is expected to increase in the long term.
It has been a bumpy couple of years for the Australian lithium mining sector.
Lithium prices skyrocketed in late 2021 after forecasts of extensive electric vehicle take-up.
But as mining companies around the world rushed to capitalise on high prices, they dug up so much lithium that it flooded the market.
"There's not too many organisations that go from an explorer to a producer, and we did that in record time," Core Lithium chief executive Paul Brown said.
"We had the unfortunate burden of a pretty severe commodity cycle that's impacted not only us but a number of other organisations."
Core Lithium started lithium production in October 2022.(ABC News: Tristan Hooft)
Six months after announcing it would stop production, Core Lithium has processed its remaining ore stockpiles and shipped most of it out of Darwin Port.
It had about $15 million worth of processed lithium products yet to be sold.
More than 300 people were understood to have lost their jobs since January.
Core Lithium would not confirm exact numbers to the ABC.
Only about six employees remained at the mine.
The company has since pinned its hopes on a recovery in lithium prices.
"Right now, we are in a state of care and maintenance, but in a way that allows us to restart when the [lithium] market does pick up," Mr Brown said.
A spodumene concentrate stockpile at Core Lithium's Finniss mine.(Supplied: Core Lithium)
Core Lithium made its decision to stop mining early, allowing it to maintain a cash balance of $87 million at the end of June.
Mr Brown said his focus was on reducing costs for the business.
"My role is to drive costs out of the business structures, so that when that market swings, we can open the mine in a sustainable way so we can operate in the region for a long time," he said.
"When we do [restart] it will be with the advantages of the last 18 months of lessons." Prices expected to stay low
Since reaching all-time highs in late 2022, the price of lithium spodumene concentrate dropped by about 85 per cent to level out at about $1,460 per tonne.
With supply still outstripping demand and the continued slow growth of electric vehicle sales, MineLife senior resource analyst Gavin Wendt said lithium prices were not expected to rise in the short term.
Lithium prices rose rapidly, then crashed from late 2022.(ABC/Trading Economics)
"There isn't anything on the horizon that is going to come along and change the dynamics of the industry in terms of demand and supply," Mr Wendt said.
"In the longer term, we're expecting electric vehicle take-up is going to increase and that will generate further demand over the longer term for lithium, so consumption will continue to rise.
"But at the same time, there's not one single catalyst that points to a near-term turnaround in lithium prices."
Mr Wendt said it was unlikely the record prices paid for lithium in 2022 would ever be seen again.
"It is going to be a more sustainable operating environment, and that's going to suit the end users of the product — the battery makers, the electric vehicle manufacturers," he said.
"Those companies that are in the [lithium mining] industry and are looking at getting into the industry are going to have to be at the lower end of the cost curve in order to survive."
