Image: Altura Mining
Altura Mining has reported a strong increase in its quarterly sales from the Pilgangoora lithium operation in Western Australia, culminating in a record shipment for the company.
The company loaded its single cargo record (on the vessel Pacific Pioneer) of 13,700 dry metric tonnes, building on Pilgangoora’s current quarterly sales of 38,600 dry metric tonnes.
Its plant performance at the operation also continued to improve with steady increases in both production capacity and recoveries.
The daily production in June has climbed on a target of 640 tonnes a day to up to 815 tonnes of spodumene concentrate in a 24-hour period.
Altura’s overall lithium metal recovery for June increased from the May result of 62 per cent, with month to date recoveries averaging 68 per cent.
The company stated it remained focused on bringing Pilgangoora’s recovery levels closer toward the 80 per cent, and was on track to achieve nameplate production.
“We are seeing better consistency across the operation with the performance of the plant close to where we expect it to be on a steady-state basis,” Altura managing director James Brown said.
Altura shipments also consistently deliver SC6.0-quality concentrate with low iron, low mica and optimal moisture content, to its customers’ positive feedback.
Pilgangoora fully commissioned the site in the March quarter and may undertake a stage two expansion to double its capacity to 440,000 tonnes a year in the first half of 2020.
