“With working money prices on the website beforehand quoted within the low-$900s, the asset is underwater at present costs,” BMO Capital Markets mentioned in a observe on Thursday. The latest Fastmarkets spodumene value in China is $760 per tonne, BMO Commodities Analysis director Colin Hamilton famous.
Lithium costs have plunged from file highs two years in the past, flattening different miners similar to Chile’s SQM (NYSE: SQM), the world’s second-biggest lithium producer, which reported a 63% decline in quarterly revenue final month. Albemarle (NYSE: ALB), the biggest lithium producer, has slashed prices and delayed tasks amongst its brine and hard-rock operations. Analysts at S&P World forecast lithium costs to stay subdued for 5 to 10 years as oversupply and a shopper backlash over electrical automobiles damage the market.
Operations slowed
Mt. Cattlin’s operations can be suspended in subsequent yr’s first half after ending its stage three work, Arcadium mentioned. Waste stripping in a stage 4 growth is being suspended. The mine produced 30,000 dry tonnes of lithium carbonate-equivalent within the first quarter, about half the quantity in 2023’s final three months as operations slowed.
“Sadly, manufacturing at Mt. Cattlin past the present stage of the open pit can’t be justified within the present value atmosphere for spodumene,” CEO Paul Graves mentioned in a launch. “We stay dedicated to growing our international portfolio of laborious rock belongings and are assured that they may proceed to be a major a part of Arcadium Lithium’s progress story.”
Arcadium is looking for a cost-sharing associate at Galaxy and adjusting its timing for growth at two lithium carbonate tasks on the Salar del Hombre Muerto in Argentina. Moderately than execute Fénix stage 1B and Sal de Vida stage one concurrently, the tasks are to be accomplished sequentially. They’re to provide a mixed 25,000 tonnes of the battery materials.
Shares in Arcadium Lithium fell 1.4% on Thursday morning in New York to $2.42 apiece, valuing the corporate at $2.6 billion. They’ve traded in a 52-week vary of $2.38 to $7.27.