Backed by a mining group in partnership with Chile’s SQM and a prominent prospector, the Andover mine near Roebourne targets up to 1.1 million tonnes of lithium concentrate a year. The partners map out a mine life of about three decades, signalling a multibillion-dollar commitment to hard rock lithium.
Andover sits close to existing Pilbara lithium hubs yet is designed to eclipse most of them on current plans. The project includes an 80 megawatt gas-fired power station built specifically to feed the operation rather than relying on external supply.
At full capacity, Andover’s output would surpass production from Pilbara Minerals’ Pilgangoora operations and the nearby Wodgina mine owned by Mineral Resources and US-listed Albemarle. Only the Greenbushes mine in Western Australia’s southwest, regarded as the leading hard rock lithium operation globally, would remain larger on present capacity estimates.
The development blueprint for Andover features a processing plant capable of handling 6 million tonnes of ore per year. That pushes it firmly into the upper tier of hard rock lithium projects worldwide.
Pilbara Minerals by comparison currently targets 1 million tonnes a year of lithium concentrate and is lifting throughput at its Pilgan plant to 4.92 million tonnes per annum. Analysts at Argonaut recently suggested Pilbara Minerals’ longer-term ambition to reach 2 million tonnes a year via its P2000 project could require about $2.5bn in pre-production capital, highlighting the cost scale now common in this sector.
Andover is set to become a key reference point in the next wave of Australian lithium investment. The planned output places it just behind Greenbushes but ahead of several established players, reinforcing Western Australia’s dominance in hard rock supply.
Investors and customers are watching closely, as the combination of in-house power, large-scale processing and long mine life suggests Andover could influence pricing dynamics and project benchmarks for years once it comes online.
