A key ingredient set to play a part in energy demands for the 21st century.

Lithium is becoming important to the 21st century’s energy and industrial needs in a way that means the lithium production market should be analysed in greater detail.

Globally 130,000 metric tonnes of lithium were mined in 2022.

The number one producer of lithium is Australia, with most of the mines coming from Western Australia. The world’s largest lithium mine is Greenbushes mine. Australia produced 61,000 tonnes of lithium per annum.

There are different ways of extracting lithium. One is by extracting from spodumene and the other method is using petalite.

Greenbushes produces approximately 2 million tonnes of spodumene annually. The mine itself is operated by Tianqi Lithium, a Chinese company. This one mine alone produced 40% of all lithium in Australia.

After Australia, Chile is the next biggest lithium producer. 39,000 metric tonnes are produced per annum. Chile is a mining superpower with major products including copper, gold and coal, among others.

Lithium in Chile is produced in the north of the country, in an area said to hold around half of the world’s lithium reserves. There are two lithium mining companies in Chile, Albemarle and SQM. There are currently plans to nationalise the lithium industry in Chile.

The third largest producer of lithium is China. China is a country that will require considerable lithium imports to fulfil its electric car targets. Tianqi (the owner of Greenbushes mine) also sources lithium from Chinese and Chilean sites. The company controls almost half of the global lithium market.

Another major player in the lithium market is Ganfeng Lithium. Dual-listed on both the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, it is the second largest lithium processor on earth. It is the largest pure lithium producer in the world.

Ganfeng owns assets in a number of overseas locations including in Argentina, Mali and Australia.

Albemarle is also a majorprivate lithium producer, a market leader in providing lithium for the electric battery industry. Albemarle has mines in sites including Chile, the United States and Australia.