Australian lithium producer IGO is in talks with Chinese firm Tianqi Lithium over the future of its Kwinana lithium hydroxide refinery in Western Australia, after losing A$955mn ($622mn) in the July 2024-June 2025 financial year.
IGO does not believe it has a path to achieving a sustainable return on the 24,000 t/yr refinery project, it told investors on a 28 August call. It is discussing a range of options with Tianqi, the company said.
The Kwinana refinery posted a A$28.7mn loss during the 2024-25 financial year and operated below its nameplate capacity in the April-June quarter of the July 2024-June 2025 financial year because of equipment failures.
Tianqi owns a 51pc stake in the project, through the Tianqi Lithium Energy Australia (TLEA) joint venture. IGO did not reveal specific details about the ongoing discussions and will update investors at a later stage.
IGO fully impaired its 49pc stake in the refinery's only operational plant on 31 July. TLEA also stopped all work on a proposed 24,000 t/yr refinery expansion in January.
TLEA will continue to ramp up the refinery to nameplate capacity, while the two companies discuss a path forward.
The joint venture plans to produce 9,000–11,000t of lithium hydroxide at Kwinana in 2025-26, up from 6,782t in 2024-25, it said on 31 July.
The joint venture will also focus on building a new processing plant at its 1.5mn t/yr Greenbushes lithium mine. The expansion is nearly complete, IGO said today.
The expansion should lift Greenbushes' spodumene capacity to 2mn t/yr.
TLEA will process 1.5mn–1.65mn t of spodumene at Greenbushes, up from 1.48mn t a year earlier.
