SYDNEY, August 28th (Argus) - After suffering a loss of 955 million Australian dollars (equivalent to 622 million US dollars) in the fiscal year from July 2024 to June 2025, Australian lithium producer IGO is now in negotiations with Tianqi Lithium regarding the future of its lithium hydroxide refining plant in Kwinana, Australia.
During a conference call on August 28th, IGO informed investors that it did not believe it had a way to achieve sustainable returns on this 24,000-ton-per-year lithium hydroxide refining plant project. The company stated that it was discussing a series of options with Tianqi.
The Kwinana refining plant suffered a loss of 28.7 million Australian dollars in the fiscal year 2024-25. Due to equipment failures, the operation of the Kwinana refining plant was below its capacity from April to June 2025.
Tianqi Lithium holds 51% of the project, while IGO holds 49%. IGO did not disclose the specific details of the ongoing negotiations and will update investors on the latest situation later. The two companies also halted all work on the proposed 24,000-ton-per-year refining plant expansion project in January.
The joint venture between the two companies stated on July 31st that it plans to produce 9,000-11,000 tons of lithium hydroxide at Kwinana in the fiscal year 2025-26, higher than 6,782 tons in the fiscal year 2024-25.
The joint venture will also focus on expanding production at the Greenbushes lithium mine. IGO stated that the expansion work is nearly complete. This expansion will increase the lithium oxide concentrate production capacity at Greenbushes to 2 million tons per year. The plan for the fiscal year 2025-26 is to produce 150-165 million tons of lithium oxide concentrate, higher than 148 million tons in the same period last year.
