Pilbara lands additional offtake with Great Wall

Australian lithium developer Pilbara Minerals has secured an additional offtake agreement with China's Great Wall Motors for lithium concentrate from its Pilgangoora project in Western Australia.

The agreement involves 20,000 dmt/yr of lithium concentrate from 1 August for a period of approximately six years. Great Wall entered into an initial agreement in 2017 for 75,000 t/yr over a five-year period to underpin the commissioning of the second stage of the Pilgangoora project. It also has an equity stake in Pilbara Minerals.

The new agreement is expected to see sales of 15,000-20,000dmt to Great Wall in the second half of this year, Pilbara said in a production update.

The company announced lithium concentrate production of 62,334dmt for the April-June quarter, with sales shipments of 43,214dmt to offtake partners. Sales in the September quarter are expected to be 35,000-48,000dmt, impacted by a two-week plant shutdown in July. Sales for the October-December quarter are seen rising to 65,000-80,000dmt.

Pilbara cut back on production and sales during the June quarter because of chemical conversion delays at some of its offtake partner sites but said its production and sales would return to full capacity in the December quarter based on discussions with customers.

Pilbara reported progress in negotiations with South Korea's Posco for the development of a 40,000 t/yr lithium hydroxide plant in South Korea. An in-principle agreement has been reached on joint venture terms and board authorisation is anticipated in the September quarter, it said.

Around 6,000t of lithium concentrate has been sent to Posco and used to develop high-quality lithium hydroxide as the partners gear up for commercial production.