“We are 80 pct renewable:” Wind and solar shield Gina Rinehart’s big lithium play from fossil fuel crisis

The main lithium mine investment by Gina Rinehart – Australia’s richest person and one of its fiercest critics of renewable energy – says that its high levels of wind and solar power is shielding it from the enormous price spikes in fossil fuels driven by the war in the Middle East.

Liontown Resources, in which Rinehart snapped up a near 20 per cent stake to thwart a takeover offer by a rival company, has one of the country’s biggest hybrid renewable energy systems, which has delivered an 82 per cent share in renewables in the last six months.

Coincidentally, that share of renewables is the same as the federal government’s target for the entire Australian grid by 2030, and Liontown says it is already paying dividends at its flagship Kathleen Valley mine

“We are 80% renewable,” Liontown CEO Tony Ottaviano said in an analyst briefing marking its December half results on Thursday.

“That gives us a very big, big advantage. So most of our power is generated by renewable sources. So on average, our total diesel cost is about 4% to 5% of our overall cost base. So it’s not a significant amount. So we’re pretty confident from that perspective.”

Ottaviano’s comments were made in response to a question from an analyst wondering if mining costs were going to surge because of the surging price of diesel arising from the oil and gas supply crisis in the Middle East.

But Liontown – like many other off-grid miners – has always understood the benefit of going wind, solar and battery storage.

Most are happy with a renewables share of 80 per cent, but some – like Rinehart rival iron ore billionaire Andrew Forrest – are aiming for a 100 per cent share and full electrification by 2030 as they seek to eliminate the use of fossil fuels.

The Kathleen Valley hybrid power station – built by Zenith Energy – includes 30 megawatts (MW) of wind capacity, 17 MW of solar and a 17 MW, 19 MWh battery, and was commissioned last year.

As Renew Economy noted last year, it achieved an average penetration of 81 per cent renewables over the 2025 fiscal year, and has now gone slightly better to 82 per cent in the first half of the 2026 fiscal year.

It’s in sharp contrast to the views of Rinehart, who repeatedly rails against wind and solar, claiming they do not work, are unreliable, are a blight on the landscape, and will hurt Australia’s ability to provide food.

Liontown clearly has a different view. And it is leaving it well placed to cash in on the emerging boom in grid scale batteries – which underpin the reliability of a grid dominated by wind and solar – and the growth in EVs, another of Rinehart’s targets.

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