Arcadium Lithium on Wednesday joined a growing list of producers reviewing lithium operations in Australia amid a rout in prices for the battery raw material that is expected to result in more production cuts.
The lithium market is reeling from rapid supply growth that has outpaced strong projections for demand from several years ago as uptake of electric vehicles has been slower than expected.
Arcadium is reassessing its Mount Cattlin operations in Western Australia given high costs and falling prices of raw material spodumene, CEO Paul Graves said on Wednesday as the miner announced a round of cost cuts to its global business.
That comes a week after top lithium producer Albemarle announced job cuts at its lithium hydroxide plant in the state, where it paused an expansion as part of a "comprehensive review" of its global cost and operating structure.
Reflecting compressed margins for producers, spot prices for spodumene in top consumer China are hovering around $940 a metric ton, the lowest in almost three years.
Goldman Sachs expects spodumene prices to average $800 over the next year.
https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/australias-lithium-industry-seen-bearing-brunt-supply-cuts-2024-08-07/