Mineral Resources (MinRes) will purchase Bald Hill lithium mine in WA for $260 million, adding a third lithium-producing asset to its belt.
Bald Hill has been shuttered since 2019 when owner Alita Resources went into administration during a lithium price plunge.
MinRes agreed to pay administrator McGrathNicol a sale price of $100 million, with an additional $86.1 million owed to Austroid and Yihe, and $73.9 million to square Alita’s debts.
Founder and managing director Chris Ellison said at MinRes’ annual general meeting last week that the company could double production at Bald Hill to 300,000 tonnes a year within 12 months.
Ellison also indicated that he sees potential to expand the mine’s life.
Bald Hill’s last resource update is roughly five years old. At the time, the mine was known to host a lithium resource of 26.5 million tonnes.
Before operations ceased, an exploration campaign identified an additional target resource of 17Mt to 24Mt, grading 1.25 per cent to 1.40 per cent lithium and 150 to 180ppm tantalum.
Bald Hill also hosts lithium and tantalum ore reserves of 11.3Mt and 2.0Mt respectively, and boasts a 1.2 million tonnes per annum processing plant.
The mine is a strategic acquisition for MinRes, which owns the Wodgina and Mt Marion mines.
“Bald Hill is a quality asset close to our Mt Marion operation in the heart of the world’s most prospective lithium region,” Ellison said.
