The Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has given the go ahead to Talison Lithium’s updated proposal to expand its Greenbushes lithium mine in Western Australia.
The EPA approved Talison Lithium’s amendments to its development envelope, which increased the land area of development to 2,791 hectares (ha) from 2,207 ha and an overall increase in vegetation clearing extent from 350 ha to 567 ha.
The approval also progresses the overall approval process ahead of a public review starting from February 2026.
Talison Lithium said the changes to its previous proposal was due to outcomes from stakeholder engagement, additional surveys completed and associated mine project re-designs to minimise the environmental impacts of the implementation of the proposal.
Talison Lithium is expanding the Greenbushes mine to increase the mine’s production of lithium mineral concentrate and spodumene ore.
The expansion includes the construction of an S2 waste rock landform, expansion of existing agricultural dams to create a larger Salt Water Gully Dam located in the north-east of the development envelope, and development of new water management infrastructure to stop discharge of water-borne leachates from waste rock.
Overall, the company’s amended proposal expects a 30-ha increase in total clearing of previous mine disturbance and rehabilitated areas, 2 ha increase in disturbance in plantation areas and 4 ha reduction in native vegetation clearing.
