Pilgangoora lithium project to launch 2H18

Perth-based Pilbara Minerals will launch the first phase of lithium production at its Pilgangoora lithium-tantalum project in the second half of this year.

The firm is expected to supply 80,000t of lithium concentrate in 2018 and 160,000 t next year to China's Ganfeng Lithium, one of its shareholders. Ganfeng Lithium has an offtake agreement for 160,000 t/yr from the phase one production of the project.

Pilbara Minerals at the end of 2017 completed an exploration programme, which will further expand the production at the Pilgangoora lithium-tantalum project in Western Australia. The first phase will produce up to 330,000 t/yr of concentrate.

In addition to delivering concentrate to its Chinese offtake partners Jiangxi Ganfeng Lithium and General Lithium, Pilbara Minerals has also signed offtake agreements with China's Great Wall Motors and South Korea's POSCO for the second phase of the project with 470,000 t/yr of output. The second phase is waiting for a government approval.

Ganfeng Lithium, a Shenzhen-listed company, is the world's third-largest producer of lithium compounds and the largest producer of lithium metal. The company's net profit soared by 215pc year on year to Yn1.5bn in 2017.