Income jumped to A$305 million ($201.64 million) for the three months ended June 30, in comparison with A$192 million within the March quarter and it stated it expects greater manufacturing within the present 2025 monetary yr.
“We proceed to see sturdy demand from all our main prospects,” Pilbara Minerals CEO Dale Henderson instructed an analyst briefing.
“It’s extremely exhausting to foretell what’s the backside for the market, nevertheless I do take numerous consolation from the truth that we now have seen different provide sources come out of the market within the March quarter,” he added.
Excessive-cost provide closures included lepidolite manufacturing in China and Africa and a few Australian output, he added.
Costs for lithium uncooked materials spodumene are buying and selling near three-year lows at $970 per metric ton.
Pilbara Minerals shares have been up 0.9% on Wednesday in a downbeat Australian lithium sector.
Broadly, some “doomsday headlines don’t reconcile with the broadly sturdy progress market,” Henderson stated.
Specifically, lithium demand from vitality storage programs, similar to those who again up photo voltaic arrays, is rising quick from a low base, and has the potential to be a “sleeping big” for consumption, he added.
Pilbara Minerals stated it anticipated output within the present monetary yr of between 800,000 to 840,000 metric tons of spodumene focus, up from 725,300 tons within the 12 months ended June 30.
It attributed the manufacturing forecast to an additional improve in capability from two main brownfields enlargement tasks being introduced on-line.
Within the June quarter, gross sales of spodumene focus jumped 43% to 235,800 tons, the corporate stated.
($1 = 1.5126 Australian {dollars})
(By Melanie Burton and Echha Jain; Enhancing by Alan Barona and Jamie Freed)