Pilbara Minerals ramps up Pilgangoora plant utilisation

The company said it was positioned to take advantage of a future lithium market turnaround as a result of the improvements.

Pilgangoora has achieved 70-75 per cent utilisation rate in the September quarter, compared to 40 per cent in the June quarter.

Production also increased to 62,404 dry metric tonnes of spodumene concentrate compared to 34,484 in the June quarter.

“The tangible progress that has been achieved on a number of fronts at Pilgangoora during the quarter is a credit to the continued hard work and dedication of our team and contractor business partners,” Pilbara Minerals managing director and chief executive officer Ken Brinsden said.

“Pilgangoora is a Tier-1, long-life asset that is ideally placed to capitalise on the turnaround in the lithium market. While we fully expect that turnaround to eventuate in the not-too-distant future, we are still seeing soft market conditions persist across the entire lithium-ion supply chain.

Brinsden said the current weak market prices for spodumene were demonstrated in lower pricing and demand for the company.

“The pleasing trends seen in the September quarter, together with the recently completed refinancing, gives us confidence that we can weather the current market conditions and quickly ramp-up production and shipments as demand and prices recover.”