New year spark for lithium

Local lithium players have hit the ground running in January, with Galaxy Resources shipping its first lithium since operations restarted at its Mt Cattlin mine, and others announcing more than $110 million of new deals.

Galaxy Resources’ first shipment, of 10,000 tonnes of spudomene to Mitsubishi, is worth around $6 million and follows recommencement of production at the mine in December.

Mt Cattlin is anticipated to produce 160,000t of spodumene concentrate this year.

It brings to three the number of significant operating lithium mines in Western Australia, with the Neometals’ Mt Marion operation and Tianqi Lithium’s Greenbushes mine also in production.

The state’s output will almost double when Mt Marion and Mt Cattlin are at full capacity, with an additional 540,000t of production worth more than $300 million at recent prices.

Doing deals

Subiaco-based mineral exploration company Birimian has already turned one lithium deposit into a windfall, selling the Bougouni project in southern Mali to Chinese chemical company Shandong Mingrui Group in a $107.5 million deal.

Birimian had bought the site in April from an unnamed local vendor in what it described as a ‘low-cost’ transaction.

Birimian’s involvement in the project correlated with a bump in its share price, including a maiden resource announcement of 87,000t of lithium oxide indicated.

Meanwhile, Mt Marion owner Neometals joined the share register of Sydney-based Estrella Resources as Estrella completed its acquisition of Mt Edwards Lithium, which has tenements in WA, including a number located near Mt Marion.

In December, Neometals also suggested it would ship its maiden lithium batch from Kwinana this month (January).

Raisings

Recent capital raising activity included Caeneus Minerals, which was seeking $1 million for exploration at tenements in the US, and Marindi Metals’ completion of a $3.2 million options raising.

Marindi has $4.8 million on hand to target exploration near Ravensthorpe.

New leaders

Galaxy also made a series of people moves, including the appointment of Peter Bacchus and John Turner to the board, and a new chief operating officer in Mark Pensabene.

Mr Bacchus is chairman and chief executive officer of boutique merchant bank Bacchus Capital Advisers, which is based in London, while Mr Turner is the leader of Canada-based law firm Fasken Martineau’s mining specialty group.