The global market for lithium products is very attractive with the supply of raw materials falling behind the emerging demand growth in markets such as China. This paper examines the growing number of lithium conversion plants to produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide or carbonate. These are complex chemical plants with very high capital costs. For several conversion projects, the feasibility study projected CAPEX and OPEX had been far exceeded during the development. Projects ramp up had been slow, taking around 24 to 36 months to achieve the requisite battery-grade (4 N) specifications of the products as well as plant throughput and reliability. This paper references several projects—without identifying them—and lessons learned. Several projects made mistakes and bad decisions with fast tracking and efforts to reduce capital resulting in poor quality equipment; all of which have led to increase in operating costs. Whilst generally, the ore preparation including the acid roasting and leaching steps, which are standard technologies, have proven to be operable, the multi-stage crystallisation and re-leaching steps are proving to be problematic. The softening in lithium prices during 2023 has exacerbated some of these problems. Mergers and takeovers in the industry are occurring. In the longer term, a strengthening of the prices will see a different industry emerge.