Lithium
Lithium Recruitment & Executive Search
Specialist retained search across global lithium, battery materials and critical-minerals markets.
Lithium looks like a mining market at one end of the chain and a chemicals market at the other.
Someone working around Australian spodumene can have a very different background from someone selling lithium carbonate from South America. Move into hydroxide conversion, cathode materials or battery manufacturing and the experience changes again.
Even the product names only tell part of the story. Grade, chemistry, processing route and customer qualification can all matter.
Imperium works across international commodity markets on a retained basis, taking on a limited number of mandates within each specialist area.
For lithium, we start with where the role actually sits. Hard rock or brine? Carbonate or hydroxide? Producer, converter or battery-material business? Does the person need mining relationships, chemical-processing knowledge or customers further downstream?
Those details usually define the real talent pool.
Understanding the Lithium Market
The product is lithium. The route to market can be completely different.
Lithium reaches the market through several very different supply chains.
Hard-rock mines produce spodumene concentrates. Brine operations recover lithium from underground saline resources. Both can eventually feed conversion plants producing lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide and other compounds.
From there, the market moves much closer to chemicals and advanced manufacturing.
Battery customers care about purity, consistency and qualification. Industrial lithium products may serve completely different applications. Recycling is beginning to create another source of material alongside newly mined supply.
For search, it is rarely enough to ask whether someone has worked in lithium.
The useful question is what product, produced how, and sold to whom?
Hard Rock & Spodumene
A large part of global lithium supply starts with hard-rock mining, particularly spodumene.
Commercial experience can sit around mine development, concentrate production, offtake, product marketing and relationships with converters.
The people closest to this market often know mining economics and concentrate quality as well as the lithium price itself.
Brines & Salars
Brine production creates a very different operating environment.
Experience may involve evaporation ponds, extraction technology, chemical processing and long-term project development in major lithium basins.
Commercial and technical knowledge built around brines does not always transfer neatly from hard-rock operations.
Conversion & Refining
Mining the lithium is only the start.
Concentrates and brines need to be converted into chemical products that customers can actually use. Conversion plants therefore sit at a critical point between upstream supply and downstream battery or industrial markets.
Relevant experience can span processing technology, plant operations, procurement, product quality and commercial sales.
Carbonate, Hydroxide & Physical Markets
Lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide serve overlapping but different markets.
Product grade, specification, regional pricing and customer requirements can all affect where material is sold and how it is valued.
Traders, producers and converters may therefore build very different commercial relationships around what appears to be the same underlying commodity.
Battery Materials & Cathode Supply
Battery demand has created a much more specialised downstream lithium market.
Lithium chemicals feed cathode-material and cell-manufacturing supply chains, where qualification, purity and long-term customer relationships can matter enormously.
People in this part of the market often sit closer to chemicals, automotive and advanced materials than traditional mining.
Recycling & Secondary Lithium
Lithium can also return to the supply chain through batteries and manufacturing scrap.
Recycling businesses recover valuable materials from used cells, production waste and other battery feedstocks.
This creates another developing talent pool around sourcing, processing technology, recovery economics and battery-material customers.
The Global Lithium Market
Production is growing quickly, but it starts in a small group of countries.
Lithium mine production has expanded rapidly as new hard-rock and brine projects have come into the market.
USGS estimates that around 290,000 tonnes of lithium content were produced globally in 2025, excluding U.S. production because the U.S. figure is withheld for commercial confidentiality. Australia remained the largest producer at around 92,000 tonnes, followed by China and Chile.
Those numbers hide very different industries. Australia’s market is built heavily around hard-rock spodumene, while Chile and Argentina are major brine producers. China combines domestic production with a huge conversion and downstream battery-materials industry.
Where the lithium is mined is therefore only the beginning of the story.
Which Countries Produce the Most Lithium?
Australia led global lithium mine production in 2025, with China and Chile forming the next major tier. Zimbabwe and Argentina have also become increasingly important sources of supply.
2025 Mine Production (Lithium Content)
| Rank | Country | 2025 Mine Production |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Australia | 92,000 tonnes |
| 2 | China | 62,000 tonnes |
| 3 | Chile | 56,000 tonnes |
| 4 | Zimbabwe | 28,000 tonnes |
| 5 | Argentina | 23,000 tonnes |
| 6 | Brazil | 12,000 tonnes |
| 7 | Mali | 9,400 tonnes |
| 8 | Canada | 5,600 tonnes |
| 9 | Portugal | 380 tonnes |
Source: U.S. Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026. Figures are estimated 2025 mine production measured in tonnes of lithium content. The reported world total excludes U.S. production, which is withheld to protect proprietary company data.
Mine Production Is Only the Beginning
A tonne of contained lithium does not arrive at a battery factory ready to use.
Spodumene may need concentrating and chemical conversion. Brines follow a completely different extraction and processing route. The resulting material then has to reach the purity and specification required for carbonate, hydroxide or other lithium products.
That is where a mining market starts to become a chemicals market.
And by the time the material reaches cathode and battery customers, the people, businesses and technical knowledge around it can look completely different from those at the mine.
290,000 tonnes
Estimated global lithium mine production in 2025
Measured as lithium content and excluding confidential U.S. production.
92,000 tonnes
Estimated Australian mine production in 2025
Around 32% of the reported global total, making Australia the world’s largest lithium producer.
37m tonnes
Estimated global lithium reserves
Chile holds around 9.2 million tonnes of reserves, with Australia at around 8.4 million tonnes.
88% Goes Into Batteries
Batteries accounted for an estimated 88% of global lithium end use in 2025, far ahead of ceramics, glass, lubricants and other applications.
Major Lithium Companies & Market Participants
Mining and conversion are often controlled by different parts of the market.
Some lithium companies are built around hard-rock mining. Others are centred on brines and chemical conversion. A smaller group operates across several stages, from resource extraction through to battery-grade products.
Major Lithium Producers & Integrated Groups
Albemarle
One of the world’s largest lithium producers, with exposure to both brine and hard-rock supply. Its portfolio includes the Salar de Atacama in Chile, interests in Greenbushes and Wodgina in Australia, and lithium conversion capacity across several regions.
SQM
A major Chilean lithium producer centred on the Salar de Atacama. SQM produces lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide at Salar del Carmen near Antofagasta, linking brine production with downstream chemical conversion.
Rio Tinto Lithium
Created following Rio Tinto’s acquisition of Arcadium Lithium in 2025. The business now combines a broad lithium resource base with operations and projects across brines, hard rock and conversion, and is targeting more than 200,000 tonnes per year of lithium carbonate equivalent capacity by 2028.
PLS
Operator of the Pilgangoora hard-rock lithium operation in Western Australia. Pilgangoora has capacity of up to one million tonnes of spodumene concentrate per year, and PLS is also moving further downstream through processing partnerships and mid-stream development.
Lithium Conversion, Chemicals & Battery Supply Chain
Ganfeng Lithium
A major integrated lithium business with exposure across resources, conversion, battery materials and downstream applications. Its portfolio spans hard-rock and brine assets alongside lithium chemical production.
Tianqi Lithium
An integrated lithium producer with major exposure to the Greenbushes hard-rock mine in Western Australia and downstream chemical production. Its business links high-grade spodumene resources with lithium conversion markets.
POSCO
Active further downstream in lithium conversion and battery materials. Its partnership with PLS in South Korea produces battery-grade lithium hydroxide from Australian spodumene, showing how quickly the market moves from mining into chemicals.
Albemarle Conversion Network
Albemarle is also a useful example of how lithium talent extends beyond the mine. Its conversion footprint includes facilities producing lithium carbonate and hydroxide in Chile, China and other markets.
Source: Company annual reports, production updates and official corporate materials from Albemarle, SQM, Rio Tinto, PLS, Ganfeng Lithium, Tianqi Lithium and POSCO. Business descriptions reflect the latest information available for 2025–2026.
Market context: Companies are included as examples of significant participants in the global lithium market. Inclusion does not imply a commercial relationship with or endorsement of Imperium Commodity Search.
Different Routes Build Different Experience
A spodumene producer, brine operator, chemical converter and battery-material business may all sit in lithium, but the people inside them can build very different careers.
Mining economics, process chemistry, product qualification, customer specifications and downstream battery relationships all shape the experience someone develops.
In lithium, where the material is converted can matter just as much as where it was mined.
From salt flat to cell, lithium powers the next chain.
Lithium Talent Across a Global Supply Chain
The resource may be local. The expertise often is not.
Lithium talent tends to form around the route the material takes.
Australia has built deep hard-rock and spodumene experience. South America remains central to brine production. China sits at the heart of much of the conversion and battery-material chain, while Europe and North America are building more downstream capacity.
That means the strongest person for a role may have developed their experience in a completely different market from the company hiring them.
Hard Rock & Mining Markets
Australia, Africa, Canada & other emerging producers
Hard-rock lithium creates one kind of talent pool.
People may come from mine development, spodumene production, concentrate marketing, offtake and relationships with converters. Experience is often shaped by the economics of mining and the quality of the concentrate being produced.
Brine & Conversion Markets
Chile, Argentina, China & other processing centres
Brine production and chemical conversion create a very different set of skills.
People may understand salars, extraction technology, carbonate production, hydroxide conversion or the commercial relationships between producers and chemical customers.
The processing route can matter more than the geography alone.
Battery Materials & Downstream Markets
China, South Korea, Japan, Europe & North America
Further downstream, lithium starts to look much more like an advanced-materials market.
Battery-grade carbonate and hydroxide sit inside supply chains where product qualification, purity, customer specification and long-term relationships can matter enormously.
Relevant people may therefore come from chemicals, cathode materials, battery companies or automotive supply chains rather than traditional mining.
The Search Follows the Chemistry
A lithium role may sit with a miner, brine producer, converter or battery-material business, but those companies can need very different experience.
In lithium, understanding what happens to the material after it leaves the resource is usually the quickest way to understand where the right people will be.
Who We Search for in Lithium
The same market can produce very different kinds of experience.
A spodumene marketer, lithium chemicals salesperson and battery-materials specialist may all work in lithium, but their day-to-day markets can look completely different.
The product, processing route and customer usually matter more than the job title.
Mining, Spodumene & Producer Marketing
Upstream roles can sit around hard-rock mining, concentrate production, offtake and relationships with converters.
The strongest people usually understand both the mining economics and what makes one spodumene product commercially different from another.
Typical profiles may include:
Spodumene Marketing · Concentrate Sales · Offtake · Origination · Producer Marketing · Commercial Managers
Brines, Conversion & Lithium Chemicals
Brine and conversion businesses need people who understand a more chemical part of the market.
Experience may sit around lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide, conversion plants, process routes and relationships with battery or industrial customers.
Relevant profiles can include:
Lithium Carbonate · Lithium Hydroxide · Chemical Sales · Conversion · Procurement · Commercial Leadership · Origination
Physical Trading & Market Development
Trading roles can span concentrates, carbonate, hydroxide and other lithium products.
Relevant people may work between producers, converters and downstream customers, with experience shaped by product specification, regional pricing, logistics and the structure of their customer base.
Searches may involve:
Physical Traders · Lithium Marketers · Originators · Merchandisers · Market Development · Strategic Sourcing
Battery Materials & Downstream Markets
Further downstream, the talent pool becomes more specialised again.
Battery-grade products need consistent quality and close customer qualification, while cathode, cell and automotive supply chains create their own technical and commercial requirements.
Relevant profiles may include:
Battery Materials · Cathode Supply · Strategic Procurement · Technical · Customer Development · Chemicals · Senior Leadership
In Lithium, the Product Is Only Half the Story
Someone who knows spodumene can have very little overlap with someone selling battery-grade hydroxide. A brine specialist may bring a completely different background again.
The lithium chain is connected. The experience within it often is not.
A Selective Approach to Lithium & Battery Metal Search
A fast-moving market still needs a very precise brief.
Lithium has grown quickly, but the market is far from uniform.
A mandate may need someone who knows Australian spodumene, South American brines, lithium hydroxide conversion, battery-grade carbonate or downstream cathode customers. Sometimes the technical route matters most. Sometimes the customer base does.
Imperium works on a retained basis and deliberately limits the number of clients we represent within any one specialist market at a time.
For lithium, we start by understanding exactly where the role sits in the chain. From there, we can map the companies and people whose experience genuinely matches the brief.
We are not trying to find everyone who has worked in lithium.
We are trying to find the people who know the part of the lithium market that matters.
For Clients
Looking for a senior, specialist or difficult-to-reach hire within lithium, battery materials, conversion or critical minerals?
For Professionals
We do not carry a high volume of vacancies within any one commodity market. But if your background is in lithium mining, spodumene, brines, conversion, lithium chemicals, physical trading or battery materials, we are happy to have a confidential conversation where your experience may be relevant to current or future retained work.