A West Australian mining giant has made a multi-million-dollar offer to lease a small Goldfields town's airport, which local leaders have labelled a "once in a lifetime" deal. 

The Shire of Coolgardie is finalising a proposed 21-year lease of the council-owned Kambalda Airport to ASX-listed Mineral Resources, which operates the nearby Mount Marion and Bald Hill lithium mines.

It comes just two months after the company's internal airline, MinRes Air, first landed in the Pilbara.

As part of the deal, Perth-based Mineral Resources — run by billionaire Chris Ellison — would spend at least $30 million upgrading the runway and terminal at Kambalda, 630 kilometres east of Perth.

The company would pay an annual lease fee, starting at $75,000 and rising 2.5 per cent each year, to $122,896 in the last year of the 21-year lease.

It would also pay the council $20 for every passenger flying in and out of the airport.

Revenues of between $12.6 million and $32.6 million have been forecast, depending on passenger numbers.

Other companies want airport access

The proposal has raised concerns from other mining companies, including Andrew Forrest's Wyloo Metals, over equitable access to the airport and potential cost increases.

Mineral Resources has indicated to the council that the terminal facility would be upgraded to allow it to cater for 180 passengers at any given time.

It also suggested there were plans to commission an aviation fuel facility and add aerodrome lighting to enable night operations.

At least five flights a week are planned by Mineral Resources, on top of the 15 flights a week already landing at the airport.

The current flights utilise 90-seat and 68-seat aircraft, with about 33,000 passengers travelling through a year.

"MinRes will seek to integrate Kambalda into our MinRes Air operations, with the potential for upgrades to land larger aircraft currently under study," the company said in a statement.

"This plan will benefit the wider Kambalda area, with access for third-party operators maintained throughout the term of the lease."

Cash boost for council

Shire of Coolgardie president Malcolm Cullen said the terms of the 21-year lease still needed to be finalised but that it would generate millions of dollars in revenue for the council.

"The main concern is the ability of third-party users to be able to maintain that use, and we're conscious of that," he said.

"We believe as we work through the details, we can address most of the concerns."

The deal is expected to be finalised by the end of the year.

"We're hopeful there will be a considerable amount of income, lessening the burden on the shire to run and maintain the airstrip," Mr Cullen said.  

'Tough' market for lithium 

Mineral Resources is one of the largest mining companies in Australia.

Its Mount Marion and Bald Hill mines both export lithium concentrates out of Esperance Port, which this year has been hit by the closure of Ravensthorpe nickel mine and the upcoming closure of Mineral Resources' Yilgarn iron ore operations.

Late last month, Mineral Resources founder Chris Ellison said he planned to "starve" the lithium market amid a significant downturn in prices for the battery commodity.

Mr Ellison told media and analysts that "no one is making money" in the current market.

"I don't want to oversupply the market, I don't want to waste my ore … I'm really pulling back on the cash spend, starving product going into the market for obvious reasons."

Despite the downturn, Mr Ellison said he took a long-term view of lithium markets and ruled out shutting down the mines.

"We're in a tough market, we're in one of those downturns," he said.