Pilbara Minerals said Wednesday it has managed to revise its pricing with major offtake customers, reflecting the strong market for lithium raw materials, Kallanish reports.  

The Australian spodumene concentrate producer said the revision translates into an average pricing of roughly $6,300/dry metric tonne cif China, on a SC6.0 equivalent basis. The price review applies to all shipments falling within December 2022 and onwards.

Ceo Dale Henderson said the successful negotiation is good news for shareholders, as it also brings the company’s contracted pricing in line with the broader market.

“The improved pricing outcomes are expected to further improve cash-flow generation from the Pilgangoora project, helping the business to continue on its rapid growth trajectory into 2023 and beyond,” he adds.

The executive also announced that a “strong balance sheet” and current cash-generating capacity of the Pilgangoora project enables Pilbara to continue the timely delivery of its P680 project, despite a capital “escalation.”

The expansion project’s cost rose from AUD 297.5 million ($199.44m) to AUD 404m mostly due to higher cost of materials and equipment, acceleration costs to maintain planned delivery timeline, and additional trade labour hours for construction. Pilbara says this expansion is on track to commission the primary rejection facility in the September 2023 quarter, reaching full production capacity of 100,000 t/y of spodumene concentrate in the next quarter. The crushing and ore sorting facility, which paves the way for future production expansions, will commission in December 2023 quarter and ramp up in the March 2024 quarter.

Additionally, Pilbara says it now anticipates a final investment decision on its P100 project during the March 2023 quarter. This expansion would enable the company to increase total spodumene concentrate production across the Pilgangoora project to up to 1m t/y.

“The delivery of the P680 and P1000 expansion projects will cement Pilbara Minerals’ position as a major supplier of essential lithium raw materials required for the global energy transition,” Henderson concludes in a statement.