Bald Hill Lithium and Tantalum Mine

The Bald Hill Lithium and Tantalum Mine is the first lithium mine to produce commercial lithium produce in Australia for nearly a decade. It is being re-opened for tantalum production. It previously was operated as a tantalum mine by Haddington International Resources. The mine comprises approximately 774 square kilometres in Western Australia's Eastern Goldfields Coolgardie Municipal area. It is located approximately 60 kilometres south east of Kambalda and around 50 kilometres east of Widgiemooltha.
The Ball Hill Lithium and Tantalum Mine was funded to production with existing lithium offtake agreements in place with a Hong-Kong based company, Burwill Holdings Limited () for the next 5 years.
The mine ceased production in late 2019.
Ownership.
The Ball Hill Lithium and Tantalum Mine was jointly owned by Tawana Resources and Alliance Mineral Assets Limited. Tawana and Alliance Mineral Assets Limited merged in a $446 million merger in 2018. The combined company initially trades as Alliance Mineral Assets, but changed its name to Alita Resources in July 2019. Administrators were appointed in August 2019. The company failed when the mine continued to operate but the offtake partner stopped accepting shipments.
Reserves and resources.
The Ball Hill Lithium and Tantalum Mine has reserves amounting to 11.3 million tonnes grading 1.01% lithium and 160 parts per million tantalum for 114,100 tonnes in contained lithium and 4 million pounds of contained tantalum. The increased reserve now underpinning an initial nine-year mine life. The contained lithium resource is estimated to be 26.5Mt grading 0.96% lithium, 149ppm tantalum for 255,200 tons of contained lithium and 8.6Mlb of contained tantalum. Additionally, with the ongoing infill drilling program, further upgrades are targeted for later this year.