SYDNEY, May 20, 2026, 06:09 AEST
- Mineral Resources closed Tuesday at A$65.74, up 2.56%, while the S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.17% to 8,604.7. Google
- The miner plans to restart Bald Hill, with first concentrate targeted for July and restart costs estimated at about A$20 million. WeLink
- The ASX cash market was closed at the dateline ahead of Wednesday trading; normal trading runs from 09:59:45 to 16:00 Sydney time. Australian Securities Exchange
Mineral Resources Ltd shares outpaced the broader Australian market after the company said it would restart its Bald Hill lithium mine in Western Australia, putting an idle asset back to work as battery-material prices recover. The stock finished Tuesday at A$65.74, up 2.56%, after trading as low as A$63.44. Google
The timing matters. Bald Hill was put on care and maintenance in November 2024 — mining shorthand for keeping a site idle but preserved for a possible restart — after weak lithium prices made production harder to justify. Mineral Resources said the latest decision was backed by a “significant and sustained” price recovery. WeLink
For investors, the restart is a test of whether MinRes can add lithium output without stretching the balance sheet. The company said Bald Hill can produce about 165,000 dry metric tonnes a year of 5.1% spodumene concentrate, a lithium-bearing product sold to refiners, equal to about 140,000 tonnes of the common SC6 benchmark grade. WeLink
Managing Director Chris Ellison said “the time is right” to restart Bald Hill, citing demand for spodumene concentrate and MinRes’ in-house mining services arm. He said the company would become the only operator globally running three hard-rock lithium mines, each with its own concentrate plant, once Bald Hill resumes production. WeLink
Site activity is due to ramp up in late May, with crushing and mining to begin in June. The first shipment from the Port of Esperance is expected in the first quarter of fiscal 2027, and full capacity in the second quarter. WeLink
The company expects the restart to create about 370 jobs, including about 110 people redeployed from other MinRes operations. Those roles are expected to be backfilled elsewhere in the business. WeLink
The move stood out on a mixed day for resources. The S&P/ASX 200 rose after a sharp Monday fall, helped by a broad rebound in Australian shares, but the materials sector slipped 0.07%. Lithium peers were weaker: Pilbara Minerals fell 1.33% and Liontown dropped 3.88%, according to Google Finance’s related-stock data. CommBank
The price turn was already showing up in MinRes’ April update. Chief Financial Officer Mark Wilson told analysts the lithium division’s average realised price across Mt Marion and Wodgina was US$2,105 a tonne on an SC6-equivalent basis in the March quarter, up 92% from the prior quarter, with April sales reported above US$2,500 a tonne.
The restart also follows a wider balance-sheet push. Reuters reported in November that MinRes agreed to sell a 30% stake in part of its lithium business to South Korea’s POSCO for US$765 million to reduce debt, with RBC Capital Markets analyst Kaan Peker saying at the time the deal “validates the quality” of MinRes’ lithium assets. Reuters
But the restart still leaves investors waiting on hard numbers. MinRes said fiscal 2027 guidance for Bald Hill sales, costs and capital spending will come with full-year results in August; restart cash goes out before shipments begin, and the company has also warned that elevated diesel prices could lift lithium-site costs by about A$60 a tonne on an SC6 basis. A fresh fall in lithium prices, a slower ramp-up or tighter labour could change the pay-off quickly. WeLink
For now, the next checks are practical ones: late-May mobilisation, June mining and crushing, and first concentrate in July. The stock has the restart story. The market will want the tonnes.
