{"id":683509,"date":"2026-05-20T18:31:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T18:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/683509\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T18:31:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T18:31:10","slug":"core-lithium-restarts-northern-territory-mine-as-price-rebounds-above-4000-per-tonne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/683509\/","title":{"rendered":"Core Lithium restarts Northern Territory mine as price rebounds above $4,000 per tonne"},"content":{"rendered":"

Core Lithium has restarted mining at its Finniss project, nearly 90 kilometres south of Darwin, with hopes improved operating costs will strengthen its resistance to boom-bust commodity cycles.<\/p>\n

The mine closed in 2024 as prices crashed<\/a>, but the company announced restart plans earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Blasting and excavation restarted in the open pit today.<\/p>\n

Managing director Paul Brown said the restart was based on strong lithium prices at about $4,200 a tonne and Core’s work to improve the operating cost of the mine.<\/p>\n

“We don’t speculate on the price forecast,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We’re there to capitalise on what is a very good price at the moment \u2026 but I think, importantly, it is a very different cost base that we’re able to produce this time around.”<\/p>\n

He said the mine would employ up to 300 people at full capacity and the open pit would operate for about 12 months.<\/p>\n

The restart was paid for via an initial package worth $170 million and an intended $120 million equity raise.<\/p>\n

This was combined with about $41 million in cash reserves and the sale of stockpiled lithium which was mined before the 2024 closure.<\/p>\n

After skyrocketing in late 2022 the price of lithium spodumene concentrate, the type of lithium mined in Australia, dropped to about $1,460 per tonne in 2024.<\/p>\n

Future underground mine<\/p>\n

Analysts have told the Country Hour<\/a> that strong lithium prices, and the mine’s pre-existing equipment, meant a quick restart was possible.<\/p>\n

Core has also awarded a $274 million contract to Develop Global to progress an underground mining component at the operation.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Core Lithium has been selling stockpiles and expects to make shipments from recent mining in the December quarter. (ABC News: Tristan Hooft)<\/p>\n

The company aims to start underground work in the coming months, with a forecast mine life of 10 years, which Mr Brown described as a “the premier asset”.<\/p>\n

“It’s a lovely asset, it’s got a beautiful ore body,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s got really great grades, it’s thick, it’s wide. So it’s really, really well set up for underground mining.”<\/p>\n

The open pit component of the mine provides a more immediate source of lithium, supporting early revenue generation for Core.<\/p>\n

Vital road damaged by rain<\/p>\n

The NT saw widespread heavy rainfall in the most recent wet season, with many major roads damaged in the deluge.<\/p>\n

Core relies on Cox Peninsula Road to transport lithium to Darwin port, and Mr Brown said a coordinated effort on road repair was required to ensure minimal impact.<\/p>\n

“The whole Territory’s had a pretty big wet season so there’s obviously been some logistical challenges right across the board,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I think we’ve got good engagement with the local council and certainly the broader government.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Core Lithium has restarted mining at its Finniss project, nearly 90 kilometres south of Darwin, with hopes improved…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":683510,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99,329487,329486,12888,172700,28853,323062,329485],"class_list":["post-683509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-core-lithium","tag-cox-peninsula-road","tag-export","tag-finniss","tag-grants","tag-lithium-mine","tag-restarts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=683509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683509\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/683510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=683509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=683509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=683509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}