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Events/Price shock · 2022

Lithium prices peak

Price shock, 2022, Australia.

What happened

USGS gives US$68,100 a tonne for the 2022 annual average in its 2024 edition and US$37,000 in its 2023 edition, after a change of price source. In 2023 it fell to US$46,000.1,2,3

Why it matters

The two USGS figures show how price series differ between sources.1,2,3

Story cards

Around the same time

  1. 2016 to 2023 lithium boom

    It reshaped Western Australian mining and exploration.2,3,4,5

  2. Leo Lithium lists on the ASX

    One dated example of capital raised in the boom.6,7

  3. Lithium prices peak

    The two USGS figures show how price series differ between sources.1,2,3

  4. Wodgina lithium mine restarts

    Part of the 2022 restart wave.5,8

  5. Australia mines 92,000 t of lithium (contained)

    USGS records 92,000 t of lithium content in Australian mine output in 2025.9

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Where next

Mines

Located inPilgangooraA mine from the same area and mineral story: Pilgangoora.1

Events

Came out of2016 to 2023 lithium boomPrices rose from 8,650 dollars a tonne in 2016 and peaked in 2022.1An example ofWodgina lithium mine restartsWodgina's trains 1 and 2 restarted in 2022, the year prices peaked.5

Sources

  1. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2023: Lithium US Geological Survey
  2. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2024: Lithium US Geological Survey
  3. Pilbara (item Q1362696), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  4. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2020: Lithium US Geological Survey
  5. WA Battery and Critical Minerals Profile, March 2024 Western Australian Treasury Corporation
  6. Condensed consolidated financial report, half-year to 30 Jun 2022 (ASX announcement 13 Sep 2022) Leo Lithium Limited via ASX
  7. Perth (item Q3183), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  8. Wodgina mine (item Q2587675), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  9. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Lithium U.S. Geological Survey

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Super Pit, Kalgoorlie by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0. Pictures: Salar de Atacama, Chile, NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Space Systems, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (Public domain (NASA media, no copyright)).