PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Lithium developer Altura Mining on Wednesday officially opened its Pilgangoora lithium project, in Western Australia.
MD James Brown told shareholders that the opening marked a significant event in the evolution of Altura, with the mine opened in just 18 months from the start of construction.
“With the continued support of our shareholders, we are in a strong position to benefit from the robust lithium market fundamentals that we see globally,” Brown said.
“Our operations team have been able to deliver encouraging results from the mine and processing plant to allow us to commence trucking our spodumene product to Port Hedland during August. The immediate focus of Altura is to load our initial spodumene cargo with the vessel due for arrival in the middle of this month.”
Altura in July produced its first spodumene from the mine, which will produce some 220 000 t/y of 6% lithium concentrate when in full production. Spodumene concentrate from the mine will be stockpiled in a purpose-built storage facility in Port Hedland, which has a capacity of 40 000 t, with Altura presently having the rights to 30 000 t.
The company is currently considering plans to double the production of the Pilgangoora operation to 440 000 t/y to tap into the global demand for electric vehicle and static storage batteries.