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(Kitco News) - Lithium producer Allkem (TSX: AKE) announced yesterday that its Olaroz lithium facility in Argentina achieved record annual production of 16,703 tonnes of lithium carbonate with a record 5,059 tonnes produced in the quarter, up 47% on the previous corresponding period.
The company said that “excellent” operational performance continues at Olaroz, reflecting “robust plant reliability, low downtime and improved energy efficiency with better operating practices and high brine feedstock concentration.”
Total Olaroz sales revenue was ~US$132 million in the June quarter 2023 (March quarter: US$159 million), including US$2.0 million related to sales of a lithium carbonate by-product. The average price received from third party sales was US$38,062/tonne on an FOB basis (March quarter: US$53,175/tonne).
The company’s Mt Cattlin operation in Western Australia achieved annual production of 130,984 tonnes of spodumene concentrate, exceeding previous guidance with 58,059 dmt at 5.3% Li2O grade produced during the quarter, a ~50% increase quarter on quarter.
Revenue generated for the quarter by Mt Cattlin was US$201.0 million (March quarter: US$122.9 million) at an average realized sales price of US$4,297/dmt CIF (March quarter: US$5,702/dmt CIF) which corresponds to approximately US$4,800/dmt CIF on an SC6 equivalent.
Group revenue for the quarter was approximately US$334 million (March quarter: ~US$282 million) and group gross operating cash margin was approximately US$274 million (82%).
At 30 June 2023 group net cash was US$648.4 million, up US$70.5 million from 31 March 2023. Net cash generated from operations and corporate was US$220.3 million.
Allkem is a speciality lithium chemicals company with lithium brine operations in Argentina, a hard-rock lithium operation in Australia and a lithium hydroxide conversion facility in Japan. The company also develops the James Bay spodumene project in Quebec, Canada.