Name of the Mine
Bald Hill mine.

Location  
Bald Hill is located in the Goldfields region of Western Australia. 

Mine Owner/s  
Diversified miner Mineral Resources (MinRes).

Brief Description  
Bald Hill is a lithium mine located on the traditional owner land of the Ngadju people.

Spodumene produced at Bald Hill is transported by road to the Port of Esperance for export to global markets.

Brief History  
Bald Hill was originally mined for tantalum, before starting spodumene production in 2019. MinRes acquired Bald Hill in November 2023 and operated it for a year before placing it on care and maintenance in November 2024, because of unfavourable market conditions.

However, in May 2026, MinRes announced the restart of mining operations.

Primary Metals/Minerals  
Lithium.

Secondary Metals/Minerals  
None stated.

Geology/Mineralisation  
The Bald Hill area is underlain by generally north-striking, steeply dipping Archaean metasediments (schists and greywackes) and granitoids. 

Felsic porphyries and pegmatite sheets and veins have intruded the Archaean rocks. 

Generally, the pegmatites crosscut the regional foliation, occurring as gently dipping sheets and as steeply dipping veins. The pegmatites vary in width and generally comprise quartz-albitemuscovite-spodumene in varying amounts. 

Late-stage albitisation in the central part of the main outcrop area has resulted in fine-grained, banded, sugary pegmatites with visible fine-grained, disseminated tantalite. 

A thin hornfels characterised by needle hornblende crystals is often observed in adjacent country rocks to the pegmatite intrusives. Tantalite generally occurs as fine disseminated crystals commonly associated with fine-grained albite zones, or as coarse crystals associated with cleavelandite. Weathering of the pegmatites yields secondary mineralised accumulations in alluvial/eluvial deposits. 

Reserves  
None stated.

Resources  
Total mineral resources as at June 30, 2024, were estimated at 58.1-million tonnes grading at 0.94% lithium oxide.

Type of Mine
Openpit.

Mining Method  
Conventional drill, blast, load and haul mining.

Major Infrastructure/Equipment  
Infrastructure includes an openpit mine, waste dumps, run-of-mine pad and tailings storage facility; a crushing and 165 000 t/y processing plant using a dense-media separation concentrator; workshops, offices, diesel power generation and borefields; and fly-in fly-out camp accommodation that can house up to 300 people.

Prospects  
In keeping with MinRes’s announcement of the mine restarting operations, a ramp-up in site activity started in May 2026, with crushing and mining operations to start in June and first production of spodumene concentrate from July 2026. 

The initial shipment of spodumene concentrate from the Port of Esperance is expected in the first quarter of the 2027 financial year, with a ramp-up to full capacity expected in the second quarter of the 2027 financial year.

Contact Details 
Mineral Resources
Tel +61 8 9329 3600
Email reception@mineralresources.com.au
Website https://www.mineralresources.com.au/