PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Lithium producer Altura Mining on Monday told shareholders that the company was pleased with the progress made at its Pilgangoora project, in Western Australia.
The company noted that some 24 000 t of lithium had been shipped to China-based converters, with the last cargo departing Port Hedland during December last year.
The company is planning to dispatch at least one shipment of lithium per month, moving to two shipments per month once the Stage 1 nameplate capacity of 220 000 t/y of 6% grade lithium oxide, is reached.
Altura is expecting several months of steady growth in the production profile, which will culminate in reaching the nameplate capacity.
“We continue to be buoyed by the quality of product we have shipped to our offtake partners thus far. Four shipments were made in the December quarter, and we plan to maintain both the quality and occurrence of delivery of this high-grade concentrate,” said Altura MD James Brown.
“From an operational and commissioning standpoint we continue to optimise our processes, which have culminated in improving performances across the board. Initially there were some challenges with the performance of the processing plant, but it is not uncommon for a new plant to experience operational delays.”
Brown said that the company is confident that the majority of these issues have been rectified.