Will the lithium price rout kill the next wave of Australian mines?

And the slump has started to show up in company results. Pilbara revealed in its quarterly on July 25 that its earnings were dented by spodumene prices dropping 33 per cent in the three months to end-June compared to the previous quarter. A few days later, nickel-lithium miner IGO posted record production at its joint venture lithium mine, Greenbushes - the world's best hard rock lithium mine and located in WA - but its June quarter earnings were dented by a 6 per cent collapse in the spodumene price. Despite the volatility, the next wave of ASX-listed lithium projects by…