Diversified miner Mineral Resources (MinRes) has officially restarted operations at its wholly-owned Bald Hill lithium mine, in Western Australia.

The restart follows a significant and sustained recovery in lithium prices and reflects extensive planning undertaken over recent months to ensure the operation can be brought back online safely and efficiently.

Located 50 km south-east of Kambalda in the Goldfields region of Western Australia, Bald Hill has a production capacity of about 165 000 t/y of 5.1% spodumene concentrate, which is equivalent to 140 000 t/y of high-purity spodumene concentrate (SP6).

Bald Hill was placed on care and maintenance in November 2024 to preserve capital and protect the long-term value of the operation’s 58.1-million-tonne mineral resource grading 0.9% lithium oxide until market conditions improved.

MinRes is well placed to restart the operation quickly, drawing on existing site inventory, internally available mining equipment and established workforce networks across the business.

Site activity is expected to ramp up in late May, with crushing and mining operations to commence in June and first production of spodumene concentrate targeted for July.

An initial shipment from the Port of Esperance is expected in the first quarter of the 2027 financial year, with full production capacity anticipated in the second quarter of the 2027 financial year.

MinRes’ Mining Services division will deliver mining, crushing, processing and haulage at Bald Hill, following the company’s integrated build-own-operate model.

The restart is expected to create about 370 jobs, including 110 roles to be filled through redeployment from other MinRes operations, with those positions to be backfilled.

MinRes MD Chris Ellison says the company is well positioned to respond to improving market conditions.

“With strong and sustained demand for spodumene concentrate driving a significant recovery in prices, the time is right to restart operations at Bald Hill," he states.

“The combination of a high-quality, production-ready asset and the in-house capability of our Mining Services business means MinRes is well placed to rapidly capitalise on the resurgent lithium market.

“Once production resumes at Bald Hill, MinRes will be the only company globally operating three hard rock lithium mines, each with their own spodumene concentrate facilities.

“This uniquely positions us as a leader in the lithium market and demonstrates our commitment to meeting the world’s growing demand for battery minerals."