Lithium miner PLS Group produced a record amount of spodumene concentrate in the September quarter, even as lower prices cut into revenue. The company’s quarterly activities report, released on Wednesday 28 October, shows production at its Pilgangoora operation in Western Australia rose 25% to 267.6 thousand tonnes.

The numbers

  • Production: 267.6kt, up 25% from 214.3kt in the June quarter.
  • Sales: 223.6kt, down 11%, after a 15kt shipment scheduled for late September slipped to October because of port delays at Port Hedland.
  • Realised price: US$1,809 a tonne (about US$2,077 on an SC6 basis), down 14%.
  • Revenue: $563 million, down 24%.
  • Unit operating cost (FOB): $539 a tonne, down 12%.
  • Cash: $2.217 billion, with net cash of $1.277 billion.

PLS said the record output came from the restarted Ngungaju plant together with strong performance at the Pilgan plant, which benefited from improved feed quality and ore sorting. Ngungaju returned to full operational status by the end of October. The company warned unit costs are likely to rise over the rest of the financial year because of wet-season impacts, but said it remains on track for its FY27 cost guidance.

Doubling down

After the quarter, PLS made a final investment decision to spend $1.9 billion on its P2000 project, which will lift Pilgangoora’s capacity to about 2.0 million tonnes a year through a new processing plant, Jimmagunya. First production is expected in the September quarter of 2029. PLS put the project’s incremental post-tax NPV at $2.7 billion, using a long-term SC6 price assumption of US$1,620 a tonne.

It also approved about $600 million to $650 million of infrastructure spending over FY27 to FY29, including sealing roughly 24km of the main access road and building a 1,200-bed permanent village, signed a power purchase agreement with a Fortescue subsidiary to connect to its renewable network, and completed a US$700 million senior unsecured notes offering.

Why it matters

Committing to a major expansion while prices are falling is a bet on long-term demand for battery materials, backed by a strong balance sheet. For the Pilbara’s contractors, suppliers and service businesses, a multi-year construction program at Pilgangoora is a significant pipeline of work.

Source: PLS Group, September 2026 Quarterly Activities Report (ASX announcement, 28 October 2026).