The deposit penetrates into the BMB and is hosted within a north to north-west trending lineament called the Donnybrook-Bridgetown Shear Zone. The ore body is located within the Balingup Metamorphic Belt (BMB), the southern segment of the Western Gneiss Province. A number of small pegmatite dykes and pods are situated along the main body of the pegmatite. The Greenbushes mining area comprises pegmatites of the lithium-caesium-tantalum family, thrusting along a major north-west regional fault zone.īelieved to be formed approximately 2.5 billion years ago, the Greenbushes deposit hosts pegmatite in a 3km-long and up to 300m-wide main zone. Greenbushes lithium mine geology and mineralization Lithium concentrate is also proposed to be supplied to either the under-construction Tianqi lithium processing plant in Kwinana or to Albemarle's proposed lithium processing plant in Kemerton. Lithium mineral concentrates produced under the expansion project will be transported either to the Port of Bunbury or Fremantle for export. A three-stage crusher (Talison Crusher 3) will be established to the east of Maranup Ford Road and will be connected to the processing plants through a conveyor. The Talison CGP2 ROM will be expanded to facilitate the additional ore produced by CGP3 and CGP4. The plants are expected to have combined production capacity of up to 1.0Mtpa lithium mineral concentrate at a grade of approximately 6% Li 2O. The new chemical-grade processing plants (CGP3 and CGP4) will have a design capacity of up to 2.4Mtpa each. The mining rate will be increased to approximately 16 million bank cubic meters (Mbcm) for reaching the target of 9.5Mtpa of spodumene ore.Īs part of upgrading the existing facilities, Talison proposes to construct two new chemical-grade processing plants, a crusher, and centralized ROM, while expanding the existing Floyds Waste Rock Landform (WRL). The existing pits C1, C2, and C3 will be combined and expanded as a single open-pit by approximately 2.8km length, 1km width, and up to 450m depth. Conventional open-cut method of mining will be applied in the expanded areas. The current expansion is referred to as stage three and stage four expansions of the Greenbushes lithium mine. The current production rate of spodumene ore will be increased from 4.7Mtpa to 9.5Mtpa, which will enable the production of up to 2.3Mtpa of lithium mineral concentrate. The lithium carbonate-equivalent (LCE) production at Greenbushes is expected to increase to more than 160,000 metric tonnes per annum (Mtpa) from the current 80,000Mtpa, following the expansion. It is expected to create approximately 300 jobs, in addition to increasing the operational jobs from the current 220 to approximately 650. The expansion is expected to increase the production of spodumene ore and lithium mineral concentrate from the Greenbushes deposit and meet the increasing global demand for lithium products.Ĭonstruction on the expansion project is anticipated to start in late-2018 and will be completed in 2020. Greenbushes is currently undergoing an expansion, which is aimed at increasing the mine area and upgrading the existing ore facilities. Tianqi Lithium Industries, a company based in China, holds 51% stake in Windfield Holdings, while US-based company Albemarle Corp holds the remaining 49%. Talison Lithium Australia, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Windfield Holdings, is the project developer. It is located approximately 250km south of Perth within the Shire of Bridgetown-Greenbushes, Western Australia. The Greenbushes mine in Western Australia is the biggest operating lithium mine in the world.
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