Australian miner Mineral Resources (MinRes) has announced the temporary closure of its Bald Hill lithium mine near Kambalda, Western Australia, as the global lithium market continues to face a prolonged downturn.

In a statement released on Wednesday, MinRes confirmed that mining and mobile maintenance operations at the Bald Hill mine had ceased, with the spodumene concentrate plant and accommodation village set to suspend operations by early December 2024.

The decision to place the mine on care and maintenance was made in response to current market conditions, and the company emphasised that it was a necessary move to reduce costs across its operations.

“Placing Bald Hill on care and maintenance is a prudent decision but one not made lightly. The decision aligns with the work we have done across the company in recent months to reduce costs,” said MD Chris Ellison.

About 300 employees are expected to be impacted by the closure. However, MinRes has pledged to prioritise redeployment opportunities for Bald Hill staff across its other operations in Western Australia. In cases where redeployment is not possible, the company will implement a redundancy process.

A small team of about 10 employees will remain on site to oversee the ramp-down of production and manage care-and-maintenance activities.

MinRes indicated that Bald Hill, which holds significant long-term value, could be restarted once global lithium prices improve to a level that justifies production. The company estimates that ramping up operations to full capacity would take around four to six weeks once market conditions are favourable.

“Bald Hill is a significant value opportunity for MinRes once conditions in the lithium market improve,” Ellison said.

In a positive development, MinRes also announced an upgraded mineral resources estimate for the Bald Hill project, reporting a total of 58.1-million tonnes at 0.94% lithium oxide. This represents a significant 168% increase compared with the previous estimate made in June.

Ellison highlighted the revised estimate as evidence of the mine’s high-quality assets and its potential for future growth. “The significant upgrade to the mineral resource statement is evidence that Bald Hill is a high-quality asset with a long-term future. We will continue to monitor lithium prices and site operating costs with a view to recommencing operations once conditions improve,” he said.

The final shipment of spodumene concentrate from the mine is expected to be sold in December, with the shipped volumes forecast for the 2025 financial year revised down to 60 000 dry metric tonnes (dmt), from an earlier estimate of 120 000 dmt to 145 000 dmt.

On Monday, Australia's Liontown Resources also lowered production plans for its Kathleen Valley lithium project and flagged cost cuts to adapt to low metal prices.

Liontown now plans to produce at a rate of 2.8-million tonnes a year from the end of the 2027 financial year, down from its earlier target of three-million tons by the end of the first quarter of 2025.