Pilbara Minerals, a major hard rock lithium miner, navigated the challenging lithium market in the December quarter, reporting a smaller loss and rising prices. Despite production declines and higher operating costs, the company's scale and strategic moves allowed it to stay afloat. The company remains optimistic about the long-term outlook for lithium, anticipating a demand surge towards the end of the decade.
Pilbara Minerals' decision to batten down the hatches to survive the seemingly intractable lithium winter started to show benefits in the December quarter, with the company only losing $182 million from its $1.2 billion cash pile – although much of that was due to the tail end of growth spending and payment timing.
Downstream strategyAt the lithium chemicals joint venture with Posco in South Korea, Pilbara reported good progress for train one, which produced 2418t of lithium hydroxide monohydrate for the quarter, achieving 75% of nameplate in October and producing 99.8% battery-grade quality.The plant restarted in late November following product certification from a South Korean cell manufacturer. Additional customers are continuing to engage in the 12-month-long certification process.
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