{"id":930215,"date":"2026-10-16T11:54:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T11:54:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/930215\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T11:54:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T11:54:17","slug":"wa-government-welcomes-pilgangoora-lithium-mine-expansion-as-ev-demand-increases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/930215\/","title":{"rendered":"WA government welcomes Pilgangoora lithium mine expansion as EV demand increases"},"content":{"rendered":"

A West Australian mining company will spend more than $1 billion on an expansion in the state’s north-west despite falling prices for the commodity.<\/p>\n

In a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX), PLS Group Limited announced it would push ahead with plans to increase spodumene concentrate production to about 2 million tonnes per annum at its Pilgangoora lithium mine, 140 kilometres south-east of Port Hedland.<\/p>\n

The company is investing $1.9 billion in the project, which will include building a new processing facility named Jimmagunya by Nyamal elders, meaning spring country.<\/p>\n

\"two<\/p>\n

The PLS Pilgangoora site in WA will expand. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

PLS managing director and CEO Dale Henderson said in the statement he was determined to ensure the company was competitive in the lithium market.<\/p>\n

“Pilgangoora has grown significantly over the past decade and as we look ahead, we are continuing to invest in the infrastructure needed to support the long-term potential of this world-class asset,” he said.<\/p>\n

“These [changes] are expected to reduce operating costs, improve productivity, and strengthen the existing operation while also providing the infrastructure capacity required to support the increased scale of P2000.”<\/p>\n

The company has also announced a $600 million infrastructure investment over three years.<\/p>\n

That includes upgrading access roads, co-funded by the state government, building a new 1,200-bed permanent workers’ village and a mine services facility.<\/p>\n

Funding for both will be underpinned by the company’s existing cash balance and operation cashflows from existing production.<\/p>\n

The statement said lithium had been a strong growth market over the past decade, with forecasts for it to grow by 8 per cent per annum until 2040.<\/p>\n

Demand high, while price low<\/p>\n

If the company’s predictions are correct, the expansion would make the PLS mine rival Talison’s Greenbushes mine in WA’s South West as Australia’s largest hard rock lithium mine.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Talison Lithium operates the Greenbushes mine in the state’s South West. (ABC South West WA: Jon Daly)<\/p>\n

PLS predicts Pilgangoora will produce 2 million tonnes per year of spodumene concentrate when it is fully operational in 2029.<\/p>\n

Mining analyst Peter Strachan said demand for lithium had been steadily growing, but costs were falling.<\/p>\n

“Despite the fact that the demand for lithium is strong because of the strong electric vehicle demand globally, the price of spodumene concentrate has fallen,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The market for lithium miners in Australia has been quite weak on the back of this falling commodity price.”<\/p>\n

Lithium prices have now almost halved from their May highs of $US3,000 per tonne to $US1,505 per tonne for spodumene and about $US15,500 per tonne for lithium carbonate.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Peter Strachan says demand for lithium is high due to EVs. (Supplied: Peter Strachan)<\/p>\n

“Mines which were closed two or three years ago when the price really fell are now coming back online,” Mr Strachan said.<\/p>\n

“It’s a supply issue that’s been pushing down the price of lithium.”<\/p>\n

Mr Strachan said Talison Lithium, which owns the Greenbushes mine, would likely rein in operations to reduce its own costs off the back of the announcement.<\/p>\n

“They will scale back, they’ll choose to do the lowest cost operation,” he said.<\/p>\n

State government backs expansion<\/p>\n

The WA government has welcomed the news, saying the expansion would create 1,000 jobs during construction and a further 500 ongoing operational roles.<\/p>\n

“This is exactly the kind of investment that keeps Western Australians in work today and creates the jobs of tomorrow,” Premier Roger Cook said.<\/p>\n

Pilbara Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson said the move was a vote of confidence in the region.<\/p>\n

\"Amber-Jade<\/p>\n

Amber-Jade Sanderson says there will be more opportunities for Pilbara workers. (ABC News: Benjamin Gubana)<\/p>\n

“The creation of about 1,500 jobs will deliver real opportunities for Pilbara workers, local businesses, and communities while strengthening the region’s position as a global critical minerals powerhouse,” she said.<\/p>\n

WA’s lithium industry sold almost 4 million tonnes of spodumene concentrate in 2025, the highest volume on record.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A West Australian mining company will spend more than $1 billion on an expansion in the state’s north-west…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":930216,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99,496918,40444,6827,11063,21879,496916,496917,194271,53820,426303],"class_list":["post-930215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-hard-rock-lithium","tag-lithium","tag-mining","tag-peter-strachan","tag-pilbara","tag-pilgangoora","tag-spodumene","tag-talison","tag-wa-government","tag-wa-premier-roger-cook"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/930215","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=930215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/930215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/930216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=930215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=930215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=930215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}