Chris Ellison’s Mineral Resources has proved a winner on two fronts — higher-than-expected shipments of lithium and a significant leap in prices for the key battery material.
The miner on Friday reported it had broken export records from its Wodgina and Mt Marion operations, in which it holds a half share in each through separate joint ventures with global lithium players Albemarle and China’s Ganfeng.
Full-year spodumene shipments from Wodgina in the Pilbara hit 201,000 tonnes — below guidance of between 210,000 and 240,000t but still up 41 per cent on a year earlier.
Mt Marion, just south of Kalgoorlie, achieved 218,000t, which was at the top end of guidance and up 46 per cent on 2023-24.
MinRes’ recently acquired Bald Hill mine added 68,000t for total full-year shipments of 487,000t — smashing guidance of between 400,000 and 460,000t.
The miner also saw average realised prices jump 15 per cent to $US970/t across all three operations in the three months to the end of June.
It also reported a last hoorah for its Yilgarn iron ore operations, which will start to wind down and cease all shipments by the end of the year. Production soared 8 per cent in the final quarter of the year but shipments through its Esperance hub plunged 19 per cent as it continued to suffer from onsite haulage constraints.
Full-year shipments were down 13 per cent to 7.6mt. Free-on-board costs were also above the top end of guidance at $108 per wet metric tonne.
MinRes revealed five weeks ago that it would shut the Yilgarn hub after six years of mining lower-grade ore across a sprawling 200km operation that it now says is “not financially viable”.
The hub includes the Koolyanobbing, Parker Range and Carina mines and their closure will impact up to 1000 jobs, with hopes the bulk of workers could be shifted to fill 800 vacancies across the company.
But production is ramping up at its new Onslow iron ore project in the Pilbara, which shipped first ore in May. Just under 320,000t had been shopped by June 30.
More to come.