Mineral Resources Limited (ASX: MIN) has placed its Bald Hill lithium mine, located 50 kilometres southeast of Kambalda in the Goldfields region, into care and maintenance.

This decision comes in response to a prolonged period of low spodumene concentrate prices, affecting the global lithium market.

The transition to care and maintenance has commenced, with mining and mobile maintenance operations ceasing immediately.

The spodumene concentrate plant and accommodation village are scheduled to temporarily halt operations by early December 2024.

This move aims to preserve cash flow and maintain the value of Bald Hill’s spodumene orebody until market conditions improve.

Approximately 300 employees will be impacted by this transition.

Mineral Resources is prioritising the redeployment of affected employees across its other operations in Western Australia.

If redeployment is not feasible, a redundancy process will be implemented.

A small team of about 10 employees will remain on-site to oversee the production ramp-down and manage care and maintenance activities.

The final shipment of Bald Hill spodumene concentrate is expected in December, with FY25 shipped volumes revised down to approximately 60,000 dry metric tonnes from the previous guidance of 120,000-145,000 dry metric tonnes SC6 equivalent.

In conjunction with the operational changes, Mineral Resources has released an updated Mineral Resources statement for Bald Hill as of June 30, 2024.

The updated resources are estimated at 58.1 million tonnes at 0.94 per cent lithium oxide (Li2O), marking a significant 168 per cent increase from the June 2018 estimate of 21.7 million tonnes.

This increase results from extensive drilling and re-interpretation efforts, highlighting the long-term potential and quality of the Bald Hill asset.

Managing Director Chris Ellison said placing Bald Hill on care and maintenance aligns with recent cost-reduction efforts across the company.

He expressed confidence in the asset’s value and potential for future growth once market conditions improve.

Mineral Resources plans to continue optimising mine plans and operating structures during the care and maintenance phase to ensure readiness for a swift restart when favourable market conditions return.

The anticipated ramp-up to full operation is projected to take four to six weeks once a decision is made to resume activities.