Argentina mined 60% more lithium in just one year
Lithium mine production, tonnes of lithium content, 2024 vs 2023, for producers with officially reported figures.
- 1. Indonesia now mines two-thirds of the world's nickel
- 2. Kazakhstan mines more uranium than Canada and Namibia combined
- 3. Argentina mined 60% more lithium in just one year
- 4. The price of lithium fell 86% in three years
- 5. Indonesia climbed from ninth to second among cobalt miners
- 6. DR Congo tripled its copper mining in ten years
- 7. DR Congo passed Chile in refined copper
- 8. Zimbabwe climbed to fourth among the world's lithium miners
- 9. DR Congo mines three-quarters of the world's cobalt
- 10. Guinea overtook Australia as the world's biggest bauxite miner
- 11. Brazil mines 93% of the world's niobium
Argentina mined 13,800 tonnes of lithium in 2024, up from 8,630 tonnes in 2023.
Australia, still the biggest producer, fell from 91,700 to 82,700 tonnes.
Argentina and Chile together added more lithium output than Australia lost (9,000 tonnes).
the numbers & method
| Change vs 2023 (%) | Tonnes mined, 2024 (t) | 2023 (grey bar) (t) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | -9.8 | 82,700 | 91,700 |
| Chile | 18.1 | 48,900 | 41,400 |
| Argentina | 59.9 | 13,800 | 8,630 |
Claim types Fact
Tonnes of lithium content, mine production. 2024 values are from USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 (World Mine Production and Reserves table), where Argentina (13,800) and Chile (48,900) carry USGS footnote 5, 'Reported'; Australia's 82,700 is an unrounded figure. 2023 values are from Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025 (https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2025/mcs2025-lithium.pdf), where Argentina (8,630), Australia (91,700) and Chile (41,400) carry no estimate marker; the two years come from different editions. China, Zimbabwe, Brazil and Canada are left off because USGS marks their figures as estimates (e.g. Zimbabwe e14,900 t in 2023, China e35,700 t). USGS estimates for 2025 (MCS 2026, marked 'e', not used here) put world output at about 290,000 t, up 31% from 222,000 t in 2024 (excluding the US, whose output is withheld). Percent changes and the 12,670 t sum (5,170 + 7,500) are progrss calculations.
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