Pilbara Minerals’ P680 expansion project has driven higher lithium production for the quarter despite a lithium price fall.
Pilbara Minerals increased spodumene concentrate production by two per cent from the prior quarter to 179,000 dry metric tonnes (dmt).
Adverse weather conditions and ore supply challenges hampered production for the quarter, however, results were strengthened by record production in March.
“March set a new monthly production record with over 80,000 dmt produced at a unit operating cost (FOB) of less than $625/dmt,” the company said.
The company said this strong performance was driven by enhanced production from the P680 expansion project. Once complete, P680 will increase the Pilgangoora Operations’ annual nameplate production capacity up to 640,000 to 680,000 tonnes per annum of spodumene concentrate.
“This peak monthly performance was underpinned by the continuous operation of P680 at its expanded production capacity with no shutdowns, higher ore lithium head grade and higher lithium recoveries,” the company said.
Despite improved production, revenue declined by 27 per cent to $192 million for the quarter as the price of lithium faces significant headwinds.
Pilbara Minerals was able to offset the effects of this somewhat by a three per cent increase in sales volume.
The estimated realised sales price for spodumene concentrate in the March Quarter was $US804/dmt.
“During the Quarter, average pricing was lowest in January and increased month on month in February and March,” the company said.
“The pre-auction sale of 5000 dmt at $US1106/dmt in March reflects the ongoing demand and positive pricing for unallocated production volume.”
In terms of lithium processing recoveries, recovery grades dipped slightly from 65.9 per cent to 65.3 per from the previous quarter.
“Recoveries were impacted earlier in the quarter principally due to changes in mineralogy as a function of ore supplied from the mine,” the company said.
“Ore feed transitioned to consistent mineralogy sources in the later half of the quarter delivering improved lithium recoveries through both processing plants.”
Pilbara Minerals ended the quarter with a cash balance of $1.8 billion. Both the P680 and P1000 projects remain on schedule and on budget.
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