Pilbara Minerals hasn’t ruled out diversifying into other commodities, but Dale Henderson says he doesn’t see the producer stepping outside lithium anytime soon.
Pilbara Minerals hasn’t ruled out diversifying into other commodities, but Dale Henderson says he doesn’t see the producer stepping outside lithium anytime soon.
In terms of potentially diversifying into other jurisdictions, the chief executive said nothing was off the table, but it was unlikely it would consider locations which would take away from Pilbara’s offering.
Pilbara Minerals is currently a sole asset operator, with its focus on progressively expanding production capacity at its Pilgangoora operation.
Mr Henderson said he could safely say the lithium producer wouldn’t seriously consider locations like Africa, specifically, but other jurisdictions were open.
“Diversification, that's part of our strategy…nothing's off the table in terms of what we have discussed with the board,” he told the press pack.
“However, it's most likely we will stick to our netting in terms of core strengths.
“I don't see a case where Pilbara Minerals would step outside lithium anytime soon.”
In terms of M&A timing, Mr Henderson said the mellow market for the battery metal was better than the lithium fever of last year, led by the likes of Gina Rinehart.
“It's certainly better than where it was when we had a period of lithium fever, if you will, where it was all asset valuations were much higher than they are today,” he said.
“I think it's a different environment now but obviously any M&A has to be scrutinized on its merits, and a lot folds into that decision.”
Mr Henderson said the company’s focus was on its operation platform and driving cost out, expanding that platform and downstream opportunities.
“We continue to sort of prioritise our energy in that regard, and we will continue to assess opportunities as they come along,” he said.
“There's a lot to be weighed up in any particular potential opportunity. It's very asset or project specific.
“We won't grow for growth's sake; we have a full plate of organic growth.”
On Friday, Pilbara marked the official opening of its P680 expansion project, which increases production capacity by 30 per cent up to 680,000 tonnes per annum.
It encompasses a new crushing and ore sorting facility, that latter of which has ore sorting capacity of more than 1,000 tonnes per hour.
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.
