The West Australian mining sector’s widely publicised labour shortages and equipment supply issues have slowed aggressive miner/mining services company Mineral Resources’ expansion of the Mt Marion lithium operations in the WA Goldfields.
MinRes, which owns 50% of the project with leading lithium hydroxide producer Jiangxi Ganfeng Lithium, says delayed processing equipment and workforce issues have pushed back the doubling of Mt Marion’s production capacity to 900,000tpa.
It now expects the $A120M upgrade to start in April, reaching full production by July 2023.
As a result, it has lowered guidance for its 50% share of Mt Marion’s FY23 shipments to 250,000-280,000dmt from 300,000-330,000t and costs to FOB cost guidance to $540-590/t from $460-510/t.