Tag: Pilbara Minerals

Rio Tinto Exploration-Trek Metals agreement to explore Jimblebar nickel-copper project Rio Tinto Exploration (RTX), wholly-owned subsidiary of the mining giant, has entered into an agreement with Trek Metal (ASX: TKM) to explore Trek’s Jimblebar nickel-copper project in the Tier 1 Pilbara mining region of WA. During an initial option period, RTX may elect to farm-in to the project to earn an 80% joint venture (JV) interest by sole funding $5m in exploration expenditure. Upon completion of the 80% earn-in sole funding period, an 80/20 JV will be established whereby RTX will free-carry Trek Metals until the earlier of delivery of an “Order of Magnitude”...

SHARES in lithium have soared, with Galaxy Resources up 24pc, Orocobre Ltd up 34pc and Pilbara Minerals posting a rise of 19pc. Mineral Resources also increased 2.4pc to $17.39. The boost for the lithium market comes as the Chinese government announced yesterday that it would hold back on reducing subsidies to the electric vehicle industry. Industry and Information technology Minister Miao Wei said that the subsidies, which have been cut steadily since 2018, will not be cut this July. This follows a marked drop in sales of electric vehicles since the subsidies, first introduced in 2009, began to be phased out. The surge is also hitched to Tesla’s delivery of its first Chinese made Model 3 cars. Tesla has revealed...

BY JESSICA CUMMINS   PILBARA Minerals has approved a $231 million expansion of its Pilgangoora lithium-tantalum project in the WA Pilbara.   Subject to regulatory approval and financing, the expansion was set to grow production to more than 800,000 tonnes per annum, and increase processing capacity to 5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa). Following the completion of its Definitive Feasibility Study in August, the company confirmed 100 per cent of the Stage 2 offtake would be sold to customers including POSCO, Ganfeng Lithium and Great Wall Motor Company. Stage 2 works have begun, and the company has already placed long lead orders for major equipment to allow it to meet its objective of commissioning from the December quarter 2019. The...

Lithium value share by country 2017. Image: AMEC. BY CAMERON DRUMMOND TIME is running out for Australia to take advantage of an estimated $2 trillion lithium value chain, according to the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (AMEC). AMEC is calling for collaboration between industry and Government to pounce on developing domestic downstream lithium processing, in its report A lithium industry in Australia: A value chain analysis for downstreaming Australia’s lithium resources, by business-to-business advisory service Future Smart Strategies. While Australia is the dominant global producer of mine concentrate, it is yet to implement further downstream processes such as refinement, the production of battery cells, and the assembly of systems. Each stage further down the chain adds value to the...

Image: Tesla. By Cameron Drummond ONE of the best performing commodities of 2016 was undoubtedly lithium, burgeoned by Tesla Motor’s construction of a lithium-ion battery gigafactory in the Nevada desert, which it fired up in the first week of this year. Tesla, partnering with Japanese electronics company Panasonic, predicts that the factory will be producing 35 gigawatts (GW) of lithium-ion batteries each year by 2018 for use in electric vehicles (EV’s) and energy storage systems – double the rest of the world’s current production rate. Lithium has a range of commercial and industrial uses, such as the manufacture of glassware and ceramics; though by far the fastest growing application is for batteries. Technological advancements in battery-making had seen the spot...

Exploration drilling in the Pilgangoora lithium region.   By Cameron Drummond   THE purchase of Dakota Minerals’ Lynas Find lithium project has further strengthened Pilbara Minerals’ position in the Pilgangoora lithium district. Pilbara Minerals will fork out up to $8 million for Dakota’s stake, which adjoins its existing lithium tenements in the region. Under the agreement, the company will pay $4m cash up front for Dakota’s core Lynas Find package, plus an additional $1m on the granting of a term extension on one of the core tenements. A further $750,000 for each of an additional four exploration tenements currently under application by Dakota will be paid in either cash or shares. Pilbara Minerals managing director Ken Brinsden said the acquisition...

Image: The Pilgangoora lithium project in the WA Pilbara. By Cameron Drummond   LITHIUM hopeful Pilbara Minerals could double production capacity at its Pilgangoora project, according to a pre-feasibility study (PFS) to assess expansion to a 4 million tonne per annum (mtpa) production rate. The announcement coincided with the release of Pilbara Minerals’ long awaited definitive feasibility study (DFS) on the initial 2mtpa development of the project. The DFS results confirmed the financial and technical merits of Pilgangoora, highlighting an estimated mine life of 36 years and annual earnings before tax, interest, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $133 million. The study assumed a spodumene sale price of $US537 per tonne at an estimated cash operating cost of $US196/t for the...