Greenbushes.
The Greenbushes lithium mine in Western Australia is delivering in spades, achieving a new production record in the September quarter.
The world’s biggest lithium mine, which is shared in a joint venture between Albemarle Corporation (49 per cent) and IGO/Tianqi Lithium Corporation (51 per cent), produced 361,227 tonnes (t) of spodumene concentrate (100 per cent basis) across the three months, up 7 per cent from the June quarter.
This led to a quarterly sales revenue of $1.84 billion from the mine, a 112 per cent jump from the June quarter.
The mine also benefited from a reset in contract pricing for chemical-grade spodumene from $US1770/t in the second half of the 2021–22 financial year to $US4187/t for the September quarter.
A delayed shipment from the June quarter meant the average realised price was $US3729/t for the period, with the delayed shipment sold at the June quarter benchmark price.
IGO also achieved record revenue from its nickel business of $285.2 million in the September quarter, with the Forrestania operation in WA the star player, generating $83.4 million of revenue across the three months.
This offset a 27 per cent drop in revenue from the Nova operation in WA, which was affected by a reduced nickel price. The reduced sales came as Nova increased its production from 6509 tonnes to 6572 tonnes of nickel quarter-on-quarter.
The success of Greenbushes and IGO’s WA nickel operations led to a record underlying EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) of $398 million for the company during the September quarter.
IGO is also reeling from the sudden passing of Peter Bradford, its late managing director and chief executive officer (CEO).
“The IGO family continues to mourn the recent loss of our managing director and CEO, Peter Bradford, who was a passionate, engaged leader who put our people first and helped to create IGO’s unique culture,” IGO acting CEO Matt Dusci said in the company’s quarterly.
“Peter was recognised across the entire mining industry as an inspirational leader, an innovative and strategic thinker and a compassionate mentor.”