Australia's MinRes pulls back Li output with downturn

Market: Battery materials, Metals
29/08/24

Australian lithium and iron ore producer Mineral Resources (MinRes) will pull back on lithium production at its Mount Marion and Wodgina sites with the current downturn.

"I'm starving the product going in[to] the market," said MinRes managing director Chris Ellison on 29 August. "I don't want to oversupply the market. I don't want to waste my ore."

MinRes issued its July 2024-June 2025 fiscal year lithium shipment guidance on 6pc-grade spodumene grade basis for Mount Marion at 150,000-170,000 dry metric tonnes (dmt), down from the previous year's 190,000-220,000dmt, according to its latest full-year results presentation. Wodgina's guidance was 210,000-230,000dmt, down from the previous year's 210,000-240,000dmt. Its newer Bald Hill site, which was not issued a guidance, aims to ship 120,000-145,000dmt.

"We've got used to higher prices. We've put a lot more gear in there and got greedier and tried to get more product. We're paying attention to that," said Ellison. But MinRes has no plans to shut the mines down. But it will spend "as little" as it can on the mines while conserving cash. MinRes' revenues for 2023-24 rose by 10pc against a year earlier to around A$5.3bn ($3.6bn), partly supported by higher iron ore revenues but offset by the weaker lithium prices.

"We're in a tough market. We're in one of those downturns [but] it's nothing we need to panic about," added Ellison. He forecast lithium prices to likely remain depressed for "six months or so" before rebounding early next year. But has warned that if it does not, plenty of lithium operations are going to be "turned off".

Argus-assessed prices for 6pc grade lithium concentrate (spodumene) held stable from a week earlier at $770-840/t cif China on 27 August, while prices for 99.5pc grade lithium carbonate ex-works China hit their lowest level since early 2021 and are currently at Yn73,000-78,000/t ex-works.

MinRes will also not delve into downstream processing of lithium in his times, stressed Ellison in a sharp contrast with its rival Pilbara Minerals, stating those yield "marginal returns". MinRes earlier in June ended a transitional third-party processing agreement with US-based lithium producer Albemarle for the conversion of its Wodgina spodumene into lithium hydroxide.

By Joseph Ho

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