Welcome the world-class lithium opportunity again! MARBL Joint Venture to restart Wodgina Lithium Mine 2022 spodumene concentrate is expected to increase after the third quarter

On October 25th MARBL lithium joint venture (MARBL) announced that it would restart the operation of (Wodgina), the Wodgina lithium mine in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The joint venture is an unincorporated joint venture owned by MRL and Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB;Albemarle).

MARBL expects Wodgina to restart in the third quarter of 2022 to safely produce spodumene concentrates. Wodgina received care and maintenance in November 2019 because of weak global market conditions at the time.

Wodgina, located 120km south of Port Hedland, already has the capacity to process 750.000tpa spodumene concentrate. The mine is served by its own 64-megawatt gas-fired power plant, a 700-bed residential village and an airport capable of landing A320 aircraft.

Initially, MARBL will focus on restarting one of Wodgina's three 250000 t / a processing lines. If the market demand is sufficient, additional processing lines can be restarted. The start-up and initial operational phase of Wodgina is expected to create 200 new full-time jobs.

MRL and Albemarle jointly established MARBL, to be responsible for the exploration, development, mining, processing and production of lithium and other minerals under the Wodgina project, as well as the operation of Camerton lithium hydroxide conversion assets. Under the terms of the MARBL joint venture, MRL's mining services business will provide crushing and camp services at Wodgina. Albemarle will sell 100% of the output of Wodgina.

Commenting on MARBL JV's decision to resume Wodgina operations, Chris Elison, Managing Director of Mineral Resources, said:

We are pleased that MARBL JV has decided to restart Wodgina, which is a world-class lithium opportunity and MRL is expected to develop it into a mine with world-class potential.

At the end of 2019, it was the right decision to put Wodgina in the position of maintenance and maintenance, although it never undermined our confidence in the long-term positive demand fundamentals of lithium. As we said then and reiterated today, at Albermar, we have the best partners to achieve maximum and sustainable value from world-class assets such as Wodgina.

Lithium is one of the two core commodities of MRL, and together with iron ore, we have worked very hard to establish long-life operations for these two products over the past five years. Wodgina, coupled with our 50 per cent Mt Marion lithium project in WA Gold and our 40 per cent Kemerton hydroxide facility nearing completion, give MRL a world-class portfolio of high-quality, long-life lithium assets in primary mining jurisdictions.

I thank the MRL team for their excellent work on Wodgina operations during maintenance and maintenance, which will enable a safe and seamless startup. "