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Events/Company founded · 2022

Wodgina lithium mine restarts

Company founded, 2022, Australia.

What happened

Trains 1 and 2 at Wodgina restarted in 2022 after the mine had been in care and maintenance (WATC profile).1,2

Why it matters

Part of the 2022 restart wave.1,2

Story cards

Around the same time

  1. 2016 to 2023 lithium boom

    It reshaped Western Australian mining and exploration.1,3,4,5

  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.4,5,8

  4. Wodgina lithium mine restarts

    Part of the 2022 restart wave.1,2

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

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

Open the full timeline

Where next

Mines

An example ofMt CattlinWodgina restarted in 2022. Mt Cattlin went to care and maintenance by March 2025.10An example ofBald HillBald Hill, 50 km south-east of Kambalda, was on care and maintenance in 2021.11Located inWodginaSee the mine behind this story: Wodgina.1

Events

ExamplesLithium prices peakWodgina's trains 1 and 2 restarted in 2022, the year prices peaked.1

Sources

  1. WA Battery and Critical Minerals Profile, March 2024 Western Australian Treasury Corporation
  2. Wodgina mine (item Q2587675), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  3. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2020: Lithium US Geological Survey
  4. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2024: Lithium US Geological Survey
  5. Pilbara (item Q1362696), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  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. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2023: Lithium US Geological Survey
  9. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Lithium U.S. Geological Survey
  10. Form 20-F for the year ended 31 December 2025 Rio Tinto (SEC)
  11. 2020-21 Minerals Yearbook, Australia (advance release) US 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)).