<
https://reneweconomy.com.au/doing-what-we-built-it-to-do-rinehart-backed-lithium-mine-runs-on-80-pct-renewables-for-second-year-in-row/>
"A major lithium mine supplying the electric vehicle and grid storage
industries, yet backed by Australia’s richest person and anti-net zero
campaigner, has achieved an 80 per cent share of renewables at its operations
for the second year in a row.
“It is doing what we built it to do,” Ryan Hair, the chief operating officer at
Liontown Resources, which operates the remote and off-grid Kathleen Valley mine
in Western Australia, told an analysts briefing on Monday.
The mine features a hybrid power station – built by Zenith Energy -that
includes 30 megawatts (MW) of wind capacity, 17 MW of solar and a 17 MW, 19 MWh
battery.
It was commissioned in 2024 and was expected to achieve around a 70 per cent
share of renewables, but has consistently done better than that, running at an
average penetration of 81 per cent renewables over the 2025 fiscal year, and 80
per cent in the latest 2026 fiscal year ending June 30.
The biggest shareholder in Liontown Resources is Gina Rinehart, the backer of
One Nation and a strong advocate for that party’s policies of scrapping net
zero and ripping up renewable energy targets.
The party’s leaders on the weekend were shown on social media “blowing up” and
burning effigies of renewable energy infrastructure at an anti-renewable rally
in Victoria.
Liontown, like another Rinehart portfolio company Lynas Rare Earths, is heavily
dependent on the switch to renewables and green energy as it supplies the EV
and grid battery market, and aims to reach “net zero” in its own operations by
2034.
The Mt Weld rare earths mine owned by Lynas has achieved an even higher share
of renewables so far in 2026, an average of 93 per cent over the past six
months. The minerals it extracts are used to help make EVs and wind turbines,
among other industries.
Liontown has also produced its first climate report and, like Lynas Rare
Earths, warns that global demand for its minerals will slump and prices fall if
the world goes slow on climate action, and dumps net zero policies – as its
biggest shareholder advocates."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
