A significant increase in mineral resources has pushed Australian lithium producer Pilbara Minerals to the top of the world's hard rock lithium resource ladder.
Mineral resources at its Pilgangoora project in Western Australia have risen by 39pc to 308.9mn t grading 1.14pc lithium oxide and 105 parts per million tantalite pentoxide, the Perth-based firm said.
The increase has come from the discovery of new lithium domains and the integration of the Ngungaju mining and processing operation plant acquired from liquidated Altura Mining.
Perth-based Pilbara's Pilgangoora project has overtaken the Albemarle/Mineral Resources' Wodgina project (259mn t grading 1.17pc lithium oxide) as the spodumene producer with the biggest resource. AVZ Mineral's Manono project in the Democratic Republic of Congo has a larger mineral resource of 401mn t grading 1.55pc lithium oxide, but it has not yet been constructed.
It is estimated that the Pilgangoora mineral resource contains around 3.5mn t of lithium oxide and 71.7mn lbs of tantalum pentoxide. The project is expected to reach a production rate of around 550,000 t/yr of spodumene concentrate by the middle of 2022 from the current 330,000 t/yr.
Mineral Resources, which jointly owns the Mt Marion spodumene operation with China's Jiangxi Lithium as well as 40pc of Wodgina and a lithium hydroxide plant that will be commissioned later this year, said today that it has sold its 5.4pc stake in Pilbara to institutional investors for A$328mn ($239mn).
The proceeds from the sale will be redirected into the Perth-based firm's own growth projects in lithium and iron ore. Mineral Resources said in its recent July 2020-June 2021 results presentation that it is assessing upstream and downstream strategies to align with the continued pick-up in the global lithium market. These may include reducing the volume of lithium concentrate it sells to the open market, and adding to its lithium hydroxide capacity through involvement in an offshore facility.
Chinese lithium carbonate and hydroxide manufacturer Sichuan Yahua Group (Yahua) is enhancing its connection with the upstream Australian lithium sector. Through its subsidiary Ya Hua International Investment and Development, it has entered into an initial agreement with Eastern Iron to acquire and develop lithium projects in Australia and outside of China. The two firms will also work together on the development of the Trigg Hill lithium-tantalum project in Australia.
Yahua, which supplies customers such as Tesla, BYD Auto, Zhenhua, E-Chem and Sinopec, is a shareholder in Core Lithium that is developing the Finnis project near Darwin and has an offtake agreement with Orocobre for output from the Mt Cattlin project in Western Australia.
