The lithium price downturn doesn’t faze Pilbara Minerals, according to its chief executive, as the miner officially opens its latest expansion project amid market volatility.
The lithium price downturn doesn’t faze Pilbara Minerals, according to its chief executive, as the miner officially opens its latest expansion project amid market volatility.
Chief executive of the hard-rock lithium miner, Dale Henderson, said Pilbara Minerals remained “very positive” on long-term prices and demand for the battery metal.
His positive stance was made at the official opening of Pilbara’s P680 expansion project, which increases Pilgangoora’s production capacity by 30 per cent up to 680,000 tonnes per annum.
The official ribbon cutting marked a positive milestone within the state's critical minerals sector, alongside Liontown Resources’ recent first production feat, while other producers like Albemarle were led to scale back operations, and cut jobs, amid persistent industry headwinds.
“I think the industry continues to change shape rapidly,” Mr Henderson said in response to his fellow lithium miner’s differing fates.
“There are many different groups taking positions within the supply chain and because there's different groups vying for positions, there's different results and different decisions being made all of the time.
“For Pilbara, that doesn't much faze us, we keep our eye on the prize in terms of the long-term potential and continue to build our strengths as a low-cost producer.
Lithium hydroxide prices have fallen as much as 80 per cent from 2022's highs, alongside flailing prices for nickel and rare earths.
Federal Resources Minister Madeline King is considering bringing forward the production tax credit for critical minerals announced in the May budget, that are not set to kick in until 2027.
Mr Henderson couldn’t be drawn on when he expected to see an uptick in lithium prices, jesting that it was the million-dollar question.
“What we've learned historically from lithium pricing is that it can change, and it can change rapidly,” he said speaking at Pilganagoora.
“At Pilbara, it does not faze us too much.
“We know the long-term outlooks fantastic.”
Pilbara Minerals ushered stakeholders into its Pilgangoora operation near Port Hedland this morning to mark the completion of its new crushing and ore sorting facility, dubbed the P680 expansion project.
Mr Henderson touted that it was the “largest of its kind in the southern hemisphere” with ore sorting capacity of more than 1,000 tonnes per hour.
The facility crushes and separates the lithium ore from the waste product, mined from its neighbouring open pits, and expands the operation's production to 680,000 tonnes per annum.
It has also been purpose-built to meet Pilbara Mineral’s next expansion project, P1000, to bring production to 1 million tonnes per annum.
That's ahead of another possible expansion being assessed to reach 2Mtpa, with a feasibility study underway.
The P680 project, now officially opened, created 350 direct jobs and will support 300 roles ongoing.
“The benefits delivered by the P680 Project are material, both through the increase in production capacity, but also by the commercial scale demonstration of industry leading sustainable technology that improves overall ore recovery in mining and reduces energy intensity through waste rejection,” Mr Henderson said.
“This further extends Pilbara Minerals’ competitive position as one of the world’s leading lithium producers.”
The P680 project was backed by $US250 million from the federal government through loans from Export Finance Australia and the Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund. It cost $404 million to construct.
Energy Minister Reece Whitby said Pilbara Minerals' investment at the operation represented optimism for the long-term prospects of lithium.
"We know the world wants batteries, we know the world needs lithium to build those batteries," he said speaking at Pilgangoora.
"The long-term is very promising. This is investment is evidence of that.
"It’s an industry and a market finding its feet, there is new suppliers coming in, there’s competition, so commodity prices are on bit of a roller coaster. But long-term I think is very optimistic."
