IGO has worn some punches in recent times, with its Western Areas assets for the most part proving troublesome amid the nickel downturn.
But there have been some highlights, particularly the performance of the Greenbushes lithium mine despite the cyclically low lithium price.
Greenbushes continues to punch out massive tonnes (producing 1.38 million tonnes of spodumene in FY24), which is a key reason it can remain profitable.
Then there’s the Nova nickel mine, which continues to produce despite the soft pricing environment. IGO plans to produce between 16,000–18,000 tonnes of nickel from Nova in the 2024–25 financial year (FY25), alongside 6250–7250 tonnes of copper.
Holding a strategy day in Sydney this week, IGO elaborated on its 2035 plan, which will be centred on upstream mining and lithium, first and foremost.
“Under our new strategy, IGO will focus on upstream mining, where we can leverage our existing skills and capabilities to generate the most value through the cycle,” IGO managing director and chief executive officer Ivan Vella said.
“We intend to build out a diversified portfolio with exploration, development and operating assets in lithium via our joint venture, and copper and/or nickel. We also see a substantial opportunity in developing commercial capability in lithium.”
Vella said IGO has strong foundations to support future growth.
“We have a great platform, healthy balance sheet and strong cash generation from our exposure to Greenbushes, the best hard-rock lithium asset in the world that can generate strong margins through the cycle,” he said.
As it looks to grow its existing operations, IGO has a substantial exploration portfolio with which it will aim to extract value.
Including its producing mines, IGO has exposure to 19 assets which boast exploration upside, seven of which are lithium prospective, nine of which are copper and nickel prospective, and 10 of which are cobalt prospective.
The company also has exposure to rare earths and molybdenum.
IGO said it has implemented a new “agile” exploration methodology and team structure, with cross functional teams and disciplines, and a “fail fast” mindset.
A new gate-to-gate process will see IGO implement a new ranking system which only progresses exploration targets that have a line of sight to economic discovery.
An external panel of experts will keep the company accountable to its commercial interests.
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