MinRes adds to global lithium production cuts amid downturn
The company will put its Bald Hill lithium mine in Western Australia under care and maintenance starting this week.
Australian lithium miner Allkem Ltd on Wednesday posted a 11.1% sequential drop in second-quarter revenue as lower output from its Mt Cattlin operations offset strong lithium prices amid tight supply of the battery metal.
Limited ore availability pulled down production at the company’s Mt Cattlin operations in Western Australia to 16,404 dry metric tonne (dmt) of spodumene concentrate, from 17,606 dmt in the prior quarter.
The spodumene concentrate market remains tight with limited material available to the open market due to most of the product already being locked under existing offtake arrangements, the company said in a statement.
Allkem earned $5,284 per dmt from its Mt Cattlin operations, 5.1% higher than what it made in the last quarter.
Tight supply and surging demand for electric vehicles amid a global push towards decarbonization have powered a rally in lithium prices over recent years.
The company expects pricing in the March quarter to be 5% above the December quarter.
The Buenos Aires, Argentina-headquartered lithium miner’s revenue was $265 million for the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with $298 million in the previous quarter.
(By Upasana Singh and Jaskiran Singh; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
Comments
Ronald Layden
It would be useful if you quoted all lithium spodumene prices converted to SPOD6 or 6%. Then it is possible to compare from one article to another. Above you quoted a price increase of 5.1%, when in actuality, if you normalized the price for 5.3% spodumene concentrate this quarter with 5.4% last quarter you would see that the price actually increased by 7.1%.. So your numbers are off by a factor of 39%.