7 Biggest Lithium-mining Companies in 2025
Mergers and acquisitions are common in the lithium space, with the biggest news in the industry recently being Rio Tinto’s (ASX:RIO,NYSE:RIO,LSE:RIO) acquisition of Arcadium Lithium for US$6.7 billion in March of this year. The acquisition transforms Rio Tinto into a global leader in lithium production with one of the world’s largest lithium resource bases.
As for Chile, the country’s lithium landscape is changing following the December 2024 announcement that as a part of its National Lithium Strategy toward public-private partnerships, the government opened up the process of assigning special lithium operation contracts to a total of 12 priority areas.
All in all, lithium investors have a lot to keep an eye on as the space continues to shift. Read on for an overview of the current top lithium-producing firms by market cap. Data was current as of April 4, 2025.
Biggest lithium-mining stocks
1. Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO,NYSE:RIO,LSE:RIO)
Market cap: US$99.83 billion
Share price: AU$112.70
Rio Tinto, a global powerhouse in the resource sector for decades, is mostly known for its iron and copper production. However, in recent years, the mining giant has been expanding its position in the world’s lithium market.
In March 2025, the company cemented its position as one of the biggest lithium-producing companies in the world with the US$6.7 billion all-cash acquisition of Arcadium Lithium, the lithium giant formed after the US$10.6 billion merger of lithium majors Allkem and Livent.
Following the acquisition, Rio Tinto is consolidating Arcadium’s portfolio with its own lithium projects under the name Rio Tinto Lithium. Arcadium’s portfolio includes the Salar del Hombre Muerto and Olaroz lithium brine operations in Argentina, as well as the Mount Cattlin hard-rock mine in Western Australia, which is entering care and maintenance in the second half of this year. It also has lithium hydroxide production capacity in the US, Japan and China.
At the time, Rio Tinto said it will increase its lithium carbonate equivalent production capacity to over 200,000 metric tons (MT) annually by 2028.
Lithium acquisitions are not new to Rio Tinto. In 2022, it acquired the Rincon project in Argentina from Rincon Mining. Rincon has an expected annual capacity of 53,000 MT of battery-grade lithium carbonate over a 40 year mine life, although Rio Tinto plans to expand production at the site to 60,000 MT per year. A pilot battery-grade lithium carbonate plant is scheduled for completion in H1 2025.
As of March 2025, Rio Tinto is also reportedly in talks to develop the Roche Dure lithium deposit in the Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the world’s largest hard-rock lithium deposits.
Market cap: US$10.93 billion
Share price: US$37.05
SQM has five business areas, ranging from lithium to potassium to specialty plant nutrition. Its primary lithium…
Read More: 7 Biggest Lithium-mining Companies in 2025