PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Production at lithium miner Galaxy Resources’ Jiangsu plant, in China, dropped significantly during the three months to December as the project was shut down for nearly a month.
During the fourth quarter, the Jiangsu operation produced 1 360 t of lithium carbonate, compared with the 2 040 t produced in the previous quarter.
Galaxy told shareholders that the Jiangsu plant had depleted the spodumene product from the Mt Cattlin operation by mid-November, with the miner carrying out a scheduled and required shutdown to convert the calcination system to accommodate feedstock from Talison.
The plant received its first Talison feedstock in early December, and production resumed by mid-December.
The production during the December quarter had also impacted on Galaxy’s strategic plan to reach a cash-flow break-even at the Jiangsu plant during the quarter.
However, the company noted that individual run rate periods were encouraging, with Galaxy expecting to reach this break-even status within the first quarter of 2014.
Meanwhile, Galaxy also reported that lithium carbonate sales for the quarter fell by 7% quarter-on-quarter to 1 688 t, owing to the planned shutdown.