Pilbara Minerals may be facing a hostile price environment, but that’s not stopping the company from cracking on with its growth projects.
Pilbara recently made the prudent decision to halt construction of the mid-stream demonstration plant it is developing with Calix – an ancillary venture for the company – and was forced to temporarily move its smaller Ngungaju plant into care and maintenance.
In doing so, the leading lithium miner is zeroing in on its P1000 project, which is centred on expanding the Pilgan plant and bringing Pilbara Minerals’ annual spodumene production to one million tonnes.
To the end of the September quarter, the company had completed 80 per cent of the P1000 project, targeting first ore in the March quarter of 2025.
“This staged approach to growth aligns with our strategy to unlock the full potential of our flagship operation at Pilgangoora, the founding operating base of the company,” Pilbara Minerals non-executive chair Kathleen Conlon said during the company’s 2024 annual general meeting.
Alongside its local endeavours, Pilbara Minerals is also expanding internationally, recently announcing the acquisition of Latin Resources and its Salinas lithium project in Brazil.
“This is an on-strategy, counter-cyclical transaction to diversify revenue beyond Pilgangoora which will deliver a second 100-per-cent-owned, hard-rock lithium asset,” Conlon said.
“The all-share transaction is a major step in Pilbara Minerals’ growth story, taking us beyond the Pilbara into new markets and new horizons.”
The acquisition of Latin Resources complements the company’s lithium hydroxide joint venture facility in South Korea, which achieved first production early this year, and the potential for another lithium conversion facility in partnership with Ganfeng, with the two companies advancing a joint feasibility study.
While lithium prices are suppressed, Pilbara Minerals is gearing itself up for the next market uptick.
“The agile nature of our operating model and ability to adapt to changing market conditions has placed us in a strong position,” Conlon said.
“In 2015, around the same time the team of geologists were drilling the first holes at Pilgangoora, a total of 370,000 electric vehicles (EVs) were sold worldwide. Fast forward to 2024, and China alone now sells the same number of EVs every two weeks.
“Looking further ahead, long-term demand for EVs and battery storage remains incredibly robust.
“We believe that no other lithium company is better placed to weather current conditions and capitalise when the market turns, than Pilbara Minerals.”
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