Aerial view of an Australian lithium mine, processing plant, rail corridor and export terminal

Mine to market · Lithium

From pegmatite to battery material.

Follow a representative Western Australian hard-rock lithium route through mining, ore sorting, concentration, road haul, port export and downstream chemical conversion.

Follow the material

Choose a commodity

Four resources. Four different operating chains.

Iron ore is the original pit-to-port system. Coal, lithium and gold follow different processing, transport and customer pathways.

Why the route changes

Lithium does not simply copy the iron ore chain.

Australia's dominant lithium route starts with hard-rock pegmatite ore and commonly produces spodumene concentrate. Unlike Pilbara iron ore, the concentrate may travel by road in covered bulk haulage to a port, then ship to a chemical converter. The converter—not the mine—may produce lithium hydroxide or carbonate for cathode and battery manufacturers.

Read the handovers: the useful question is not only “what machine is next?” It is what product leaves each stage, what quality information travels with it and which downstream system is ready to receive it.

Products and markets

The same commodity can leave a site in different forms.

Mine design, ore characteristics, customer specification and local infrastructure determine the actual route.

Spodumene concentrate

A mineral concentrate made by rejecting waste and upgrading lithium-bearing spodumene. Grade, moisture, particle size and impurity limits matter to the customer and converter.

Lithium hydroxide or carbonate

Chemical conversion adds calcination, leaching, purification and crystallisation stages. Conversion can occur in Australia or overseas and is not present at every mine.

By-products and rejects

Some deposits also contain saleable tantalum or other mineral streams. Coarse rejects, tailings and water are managed within the site's approved process and environmental systems.

The operating chain

Six handovers from resource to customer.

A representative Australian pathway. Individual mines and products can add, remove or reorder stages.

01Extraction
Mine the pegmatite
Open-pit or underground mining selectively recovers lithium-bearing pegmatite while controlling dilution and ore loss. Grade control directs ore and waste to the correct destinations.
Material handover
Run-of-mine lithium ore delivered to the crusher or ROM stockpile.
- Drills and production charging
- Excavators or underground loaders
- Haul trucks
- Grade-control systems
02Front-end processing
Crush and sort
Crushing reduces the ore to the size required by the concentrator. Some operations use ore sorting or screening to reject barren material before energy-intensive downstream treatment.
Material handover
Prepared feed with controlled size and reduced waste content.
- Primary and secondary crushers
- Screens
- Ore sorters
- Feed conveyors
03Beneficiation
Concentrate
Dense-medium separation, grinding and flotation can upgrade spodumene, with the flowsheet selected for the orebody. Water balance and recovery are central plant considerations.
Material handover
A lithium-rich concentrate stream separated from rejects and tailings.
- DMS modules
- Grinding mills
- Flotation cells
- Pumps and classification
04Product preparation
Dewater and store
Concentrate is thickened, filtered and placed into controlled storage before dispatch. Sampling and laboratory results support product acceptance and shipment documentation.
Material handover
Spodumene concentrate within dispatch moisture and quality requirements.
- Thickeners
- Filters
- Product sheds
- Sampling systems
05Logistics
Haul and export
Dedicated road haulage can move concentrate from inland operations to port storage. Port arrangements then receive, store and load the product for shipment to contracted customers.
Material handover
A traceable concentrate cargo transferred into the maritime supply chain.
- Covered road combinations
- Port storage
- Shiploading systems
- Logistics scheduling
06Downstream
Convert and manufacture
Converters transform spodumene into refined lithium chemicals. Those chemicals move into cathode-active material, cell manufacture, battery packs and end uses such as vehicles and stationary storage.
Material handover
Battery-grade chemical supplied into a qualified manufacturing chain.
- Calciners
- Leach and purification circuits
- Crystallisers
- Packaging and quality laboratories

Australian examples

Real operations show how the route changes.

These are high-level, public examples—not site procedures, haulage instructions or complete product-routing diagrams.

Pilbara, Western Australia

Pilgangoora

PLS mines and concentrates hard-rock lithium near Port Hedland. Dedicated road haulage moves spodumene concentrate to port storage and shipping; company offtake also connects product with downstream conversion.

PLS (Pilbara Minerals) profile

Northern Goldfields, Western Australia

Kathleen Valley

Liontown's underground operation produces spodumene concentrate north of Leinster. Sealed highways connect the site to the Port of Geraldton for delivery to customers.

Liontown profile

People behind the chain

Different products create different role mixes.

Open-pit operatorsUnderground minersProcess operatorsMetallurgistsLaboratory techniciansElectriciansMechanical fittersBoilermakersRoad-train driversPort logistics teamsMine geologistsHydrogeologistsMaintenance plannersProduct-quality teams

Sources and further reading

Operator and infrastructure sources.

Checked 30 August 2026. External links open the primary source.

PLS — Pilgangoora ore sorting

Operator explanation of crushing and ore sorting within the Pilgangoora expansion pathway.

PLS — concentrate haulage

Operator account of dedicated road transport from Pilgangoora to Port Hedland for storage and shipping.

PLS — Lumsden Point

Operator explanation of planned port infrastructure supporting Pilgangoora's export requirements.

PLS and POSCO chemical facility

Primary source connecting Pilgangoora spodumene concentrate with lithium-hydroxide conversion in Korea.

Liontown — Kathleen Valley

Current operation overview, underground mining context and transport connection to Geraldton.

Technical boundary: Lithium mineralogy, DMS and flotation response, reagent systems, product specifications, transport controls and chemical-conversion parameters vary by orebody, plant and customer. Use current metallurgical testwork, approved procedures and product contracts.