Galaxy, General Mining restart Mt Cattlin

General Mining Corporation and Galaxy Resources have restarted mining and processing operations at the Mt Cattlin lithium mine near Ravensthorpe.

In a statement today, General Mining said it had issued a production notice to Galaxy, and had committed the initial $7 million required to restart production at Mt Cattlin.

General Mining will acquire an initial 14 per cent interest in the project after the initial investment, and will invest $6 million annually for the next three years to boost its stake in Mt Cattlin to 50 per cent.

As part of the initial investment, General Mining is also entitled to a 50 per cent operating profit interest.

“The project team has delivered against a very tight commissioning timeline in order to take advantage of market demand, and I’m confident in our ability to continue to meet our ramp up schedule over the coming months,” General Mining chairman Michael Fotios said.

“The recommencement of production at Mt Cattlin represents another major achievement by General Mining in not only meeting its obligations to Galaxy, but also in becoming a reliable, independent and growing supplier of spodumene concentrate to the global lithium market.”

An initial five-week program will recover stockpiled spodumene and tantalum concentrates from the fines circuit, ahead of crusher and coarse circuit commissioning later in the June quarter.

General Mining shares were 5 per cent lower to 38 cents, while Galaxy shares were unchanged at 25.5 cents each at the close.