Pilbara Minerals has maintained steady lithium production levels at its Pilgangoora lithium operation in Western Australia as it looks to finalise its acquisition of Latin Resources next week.
The lithium miner produced 188,200 dry metric tonnes (dmt) of spodumene concentrate during the December 2024 quarter, a 14 per cent decrease from the previous quarter.
Pilbara Minerals cited the successful transition to the P850 operating model with the Ngungaju plant being placed into care and maintenance and planned downtime for the P680 crushing and sorting facility ramp-up as the reasons behind the decline.
However, the company expects the transition “to support cost and cash flow improvements” over the 2024–25 financial year (FY25) and beyond.
“Consistent with the P850 operating model, mining requirements and costs reduced in the (December 2024 quarter) period,” Pilbara Minerals said.
“Total material mined was 6.9 (million) wet metric tonnes (wmt) compared to 9.5 (million) wmt in the prior quarter. Total ore mined was 1.2 (million) wmt compared with 1.4 (million) wmt in the prior quarter.
“Lithium recovery exceeded internal forecasts with an average recovery of 72.1 per cent. However, in line with plan, lithium recovery for the Pilgan processing plant was impacted during the period due to P680 crushing and sorting ramp-up and optimisation. These impacts were partially offset by a series of processing improvements including further optimisation of the P680 primary rejection facility.”
Pilbara Minerals is also ramping up its P1000 expansion, targeting completion by the end of FY25. It is expected the project will result in higher production volume and lower unit costs for FY26.
The company sold 204,100dmt of spodumene concentrate during the December quarter at a realised average price of $US700/dmt ($1119), a three per cent increase from the previous quarter – resulting in a three per cent increase in revenue to $216 million.
Pilbara Minerals ended the December quarter with a $1.2 billion cash balance.
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