The company has held the first annual general meeting (AGM) of IGO shareholders since the sudden death of managing director and chief executive officer Peter Bradford.
Bradford, who joined IGO in 2014, passed away in October aged 64.
“The news of his death is devastating to everyone at IGO. We greatly admired Peter for not just his vision and commitment to delivering on our purpose but also for his endearing humility and enormous humanity,” IGO non-executive chair Michael Nossal said.
“As Peter would have wanted, the board and leadership team also moved quickly to ensure the IGO business can continue with the strong momentum it has built over recent years as we grow a globally significant clean energy metals business.”
A significant focus of IGO’s AGM was the progress the company has made through its potential resource expansion at Mt Goode and the development of its Nova and Cosmos operations.
Similarly, IGO has evolved its lithium business.
“Our lithium business benefited from improved production performance at Greenbushes and significantly higher lithium prices which have generated outstanding financial returns and the first dividend from the joint venture to IGO,” Nossal said.
Nossal reported that while progress at IGO’s Kwinana Refinery in Western Australia had been slower than expected, production of the first battery-grade lithium hydroxide earlier in the year had been a key milestone.
“We remain convinced of the importance of exploration if we are to deliver the mines of tomorrow and help feed demand for clean energy metals including lithium, nickel, copper, cobalt and rare earths,” he said.
After achieving record earnings and net profit after tax for FY22, IGO expects another strong year for FY23 ahead of buoyant commodity prices and a solid production profile.
IGO has also reported strong results from both sustainability and reconciliation projects, stemming from its Nova solar farm and engagement with Traditional Owners.
“(The solar farm) should enable the entire Nova operation to run for up to eight to nine consecutive hours without diesel generation,” Nossal said.
“This is the first time this will be achieved in Australia and will reduce emission by a further 24 per cent.
“I am also pleased to report on the strong progress the team are making toward implementing a Reconciliation Action Plan which will develop deeper and stronger IGO relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.”