When you strip away the headlines about electric vehicles (EVs), grid batteries, and the energy transition, it becomes clear that the global lithium supply chain depends on a surprisingly small number of mines and salt flats.
Lithium has become one of the world’s most strategically important metals, but most supply still comes from a few dozen operations clustered in three main regions.
Demand keeps climbing. EV makers, stationary-storage developers, and consumer-electronics manufacturers all draw from the same pool, which makes a simple question worth asking: which mines actually supply the world?
Two production routes dominate. The first is hard-rock spodumene mining, which is largely concentrated in Western Australia’s Pilbara and southwest regions. The second is lithium-bearing brine extraction across South America’s ‘Lithium Triangle’ of Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia, where solar evaporation ponds turn salt-flat water into battery-grade carbonate.
A third route — lepidolite, or lithium-bearing mica, mining in China’s Jiangxi province — has scaled rapidly in the past five years and is now a meaningful contributor.
The following list must be caveated with the following: There is no single metric for measuring the world’s largest lithium mines. Some operations top the table on annual production but sit on smaller reserves; others hold enormous reserves and modest current output. The list below blends current output, nameplate capacity, and reserves, weighted toward strategic importance in the battery metals supply chain. Figures move every quarter — treat them as snapshots, not gospel.
1. Greenbushes — Western Australia
Operator: Talison Lithium, a joint venture between Tianqi Lithium, IGO (ASX:IGO), and Albemarle (NYSE:ALB).
Type: Hard-rock spodumene
If lithium has a flagship mine, it’s Greenbushes. Three chemical-grade plants currently produce around 1.48 million tonnes of spodumene concentrate per year, and the new CGP3 plant adds roughly 500,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of capacity from late 2025.
The site’s grade is the real story — Li₂O routinely above 2% means every tonne of concentrate yields more lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate downstream than almost anywhere else on Earth.
2. Salar de Atacama (SQM) — Chile
Operator: SQM (NYSE:SQM), transitioning into the Codelco-SQM joint venture ‘Nova Andino Litio’ from 2026.
Type: Brine
The Salar de Atacama is the largest lithium brine operation in the world, and SQM is its largest producer.
In 2024 alone, SQM pulled around 201,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) from its concession using an extensive network of solar evaporation ponds feeding an integrated chemicals plant.
From 2026, the operation transitions to a state-aligned partnership designed to keep the lights on at Atacama through to 2060.
3. Salar de Atacama (Albemarle) — Chile
Operator: Albemarle, with refining at La Negra near Antofagasta.
Type: Brine
Albemarle works a separate concession on the same salt flat.
Together, the two operations underpin Chilean lithium output that the country’s mining ministry put at roughly 64,100 tonnes of contained lithium in 2025, with further growth expected in 2026.
Albemarle’s La Negra refinery is one of the world’s three largest lithium-chemicals plants.
4. Pilgangoora — Western Australia
Operator: Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS)
Type: Hard-rock spodumene
Pilgangoora has become one of the world’s most important hard-rock lithium operations.
After commissioning the P680 expansion, annual production capacity reached about 680,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate. The P1000 expansion now underway is aiming to push output past 1 million tonnes per year.
Long-term offtake agreements stitch Pilgangoora into battery-chemical converters across China, Korea, and Europe.
5. Wodgina — Western Australia
Operator: MARBL JV, a joint venture between Albemarle, with 50%, and Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN), also with 50%.
Type: Hard-rock spodumene
Wodgina sits on one of the largest known hard-rock lithium deposits.
With three crushing trains, nameplate spodumene capacity is around 750,000tpa once fully ramped. The joint venture partners have signalled they would like to push some of that volume into downstream lithium-hydroxide conversion inside Australia, rather than shipping it offshore.
6. Mt Marion — Western Australia
Operator: Reed Industrial Minerals (RIM), a joint venture between Ganfeng Lithium (HK:1772), with 50%, and Mineral Resources, also with 50%.
Type: Hard-rock spodumene
Mt Marion lifted its FY2025 production guidance to 370,000–400,000 tonnes of SC4.1 spodumene concentrate. Ganfeng’s share of the offtake heads straight to its Chinese hydroxide refineries, which makes Mt Marion one of the most important nodes in the China-bound spodumene corridor.
7. Cauchari-Olaroz — Argentina
Operator: Lithium Argentina (NYSE:LAR), with 44.8%, and Ganfeng Lithium with 46.7% — the remaining 8.5% is held by Argentina-owned mining investment company JEMSE.
Type: Brine
After first production in 2023, Cauchari-Olaroz became the largest new brine project to come on stream in Argentina in more than two decades.
The operation has a nameplate capacity of 40,000tpa of battery-quality lithium carbonate, with phased expansions ramping the operation toward its targeted run rate.
8. Yichun — Jiangxi, China
Operator: A cluster of producers anchored by the 414 mine, including Yongxing Materials (SHE:002756) and Jiangte Motor (SHE:002176).
Type: Lepidolite (lithium-bearing mica)
Yichun is the wild card. The district holds proven reserves of more than 6 million tonnes of LCE, with the 414 mine alone accounting for around 2.7 million tonnes of LCE. Tens of thousands of tonnes a year now flow into China’s domestic lithium-carbonate refineries. It’s a reminder that not all of the world’s lithium will come out of spodumene or brine.
9. Salar de Olaroz — Argentina
Operator: Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO)
Type: Brine
Located in Argentina’s Jujuy Province, Olaroz produces battery-grade lithium carbonate via solar evaporation.
The Stage 2 expansion brought combined annual capacity to about 42,500tpa LCE.
Importantly, Olaroz is one of the few Argentine operations with a long, consistent track record of meeting battery-grade specifications at scale — a non-trivial feat in brine production.
10. Salar del Hombre Muerto (Fénix) — Argentina
Operator: Rio Tinto
Type: Brine
The Fénix operation pioneered modern lithium brine extraction in Argentina decades ago.
Combined with the adjacent Sal de Vida project, it now forms one of the country’s largest single-salt-flat lithium production complexes — and a critical piece of the Lithium Triangle’s overall output.
Honourable mentions and rising contenders
A few projects did not quite make the top 10 but are worth keeping an eye on.
Kathleen Valley in Western Australia, operated by Liontown Resources (ASX:LTR), has begun ramping up toward 500,000tpa of spodumene concentrate and could reshape the rankings within two years.
Manono in the Democratic Republic of the Congo holds one of the world’s largest undeveloped hard-rock deposits, though political and infrastructure hurdles remain.
North America is finally on the board too: Thacker Pass in Nevada has begun construction with backing from General Motors, while James Bay and Whabouchi in Québec are progressing through development. None are operating at full scale yet, but the next iteration of this list — five years out — will almost certainly look different.
What it means for the lithium supply chain
Together, these 10 operations account for the bulk of the world’s primary lithium supply.
Australia dominates spodumene and is steadily moving up the value chain into lithium-hydroxide refining. Chile and Argentina remain the heart of brine production. China’s lepidolite output, once dismissed as a footnote, now rounds out the global picture.
The broader story is concentration. A handful of mines, in a handful of jurisdictions, supply almost every EV battery sold worldwide — and that is a structural risk Western governments and automakers have only recently started taking seriously.
Expect to see new entrants from Canada, the United States, and Africa appearing on lists like this one through the rest of the 2020s, even as existing operators continue to expand capacity to meet EV and grid-storage demand through the 2030s.
The world will need a lot more lithium. The real question is where it’s going to come from.
