(Bloomberg) -- Australia’s largest pure-play lithium producer Pilbara Minerals Ltd. said it sees demand recovering on the restart of a large mine and refinery in China, even as it reported a net loss in its half-year earnings.
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Prices in lithium carbonate have fallen about 87% since peaking in 2022 and are down more than 22% compared with this time last year. That drove Pilbara Minerals to see a net loss of A$69 million ($44 million) in the six months ending Dec. 31, it said in corporate filings on Thursday. Shares were largely unchanged at A$2.01.
The firm’s Chief Executive Officer Dale Henderson said prices and demand could soon recover as Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. restarts its project in China. CATL is the world’s largest maker of electric vehicle batteries.
“The restart of that particular mine, I frankly see as a positive,” Henderson told Bloomberg TV in an interview on Thursday. “When we look in the rear view mirror and see this steady price decline over the last 18 months, that’s translated through to a number of curtailments.”
CATL’s restart is part of the commodities cycle and is likely a sign of supply chain tightness and a “sign of necessity,” Henderson said. “Inevitably we think prices have to rise and for Pilbara, the stage is set to enjoy that price rally.”
The hard rock miner currently produces lithium from its Pilgangoora mine in Australia’s north, which is ramping up production. It was forced to temporarily shut one of its processing plants in the six months to Dec. 31 as low prices squeezed margins.
Pilbara Minerals has increased sales from its operations and acquired Latin Resources Ltd., which holds undeveloped lithium mines in Brazil.
Henderson said while all the company’s assets are currently in spodumene, a mineral source of lithium, he has not ruled out expanding into lithium brine.
“It’s certainly on the cards,” he said. “If we were to explore it, we probably would do it in a small way given its not in our core competence.”
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