Talison gets green light for $1b WA lithium mine expansion

Extract from Australian Financial Review

"Western Australia's environmental watchdog has cleared the way for a $1 billion expansion of the Greenbushes lithium mine in the state’s south west that will underpin the construction of two lithium hydroxide plants.

The expansion, which involves the clearing of some 350 hectares of native vegetation, is expected to see what is already the world’s biggest lithium mine increase production from about 1.3 million tonnes a year to 2.4 million tonnes a year.

The Environmental Protection Authority ruling will allow Talison, a partnership between Chinese company Tianqi and New York Stock Exchange-listed Albemarle, to push ahead with mining and procession expansion as well as reprocessing of tailings material.

Tianqi is commissioning a lithium hydroxide plant in Kwinana, close to where Wesfarmers takeover target Kidman Resources and its partner Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile have selected a site for a 45,000 tonne-a-year plant.

Meanwhile, Albemarle has started work on a $1 billion plant to the south of Kwinana."