I see they are producer. Good.
Galaxy Resources waves off first lithium shipment from Mt Cattlin mine
By Jarrod Lucas
January 2, 2017 at 11:45 pm
Western Australia continues to stake its claim as the world's lithium mining capital, with Galaxy Resources waving off the first shipment from its recommissioned Mt Cattlin mine near Ravensthorpe.
About 10,000 tonnes of lithium concentrate left Esperance Port on January 2 aboard NY Trader 1 bound for Lianyungang Port in China.
The first shipment was valued at $US6 million, with Galaxy planning production of 160,000 tonnes this year.
Mt Cattlin operated from 2009 to 2012 and the restart was the brainchild of Perth businessman Michael Fotios, whose company — ASX-listed General Mining Corporation — was acquired by Galaxy in a $217 million takeover last year.
The restart included refurbishing the Mt Cattlin processing plant and doubling throughput to about 1.6 million tonnes per annum, while the cost of the works blew out from an initial estimate of $15 million to $22.4 million.
Galaxy's managing director Anthony Tse said production at Mt Cattlin continued to ramp up with daily plant utilisation now averaging 72 per cent.
"This is an exciting day for Galaxy and for our customers," he said.
"It marks another major achievement and signals Galaxy's formal transition back to producer status, elevating it into the ranks of global lithium producing companies.
"There has been a tremendous amount of hard work with some very long hours put in, under tight and challenging deadlines, to get the operations to the stage where they are at and to allow us to make our first shipment."
Mt Cattlin one of three lithium mines in WA
Lithium is a soft, silvery white metal which is highly reactive and a key component in new-generation batteries.
The chemical does not occur in nature in its elemental form, but compounds within hard rock deposits and salt brines.
Australian hard rock miners argue they are strategically placed compared to Chinese and South American competitors who typically source supplies from "poorer quality brines".
Mt Cattlin is one of three operating lithium mines in WA, alongside Greenbushes in the South West and Mt Marion in the Goldfields, which both have high levels of Chinese investment.
Greenbushes is operated by Talison Lithium, in which China's Tianqi Lithium controls a 51 per cent stake and US-based Albemarle Corporation holds the minority interest.
The open pit operation has been running since the 1980s and is considered the world's highest-grade lithium mine with export via Bunbury Port.
The Mt Marion mine near Kalgoorlie-Boulder — jointly owned by Chris Ellison's Mineral Resources, China's Ganfeng Lithium and ASX-listed Neometals — is on track to ship its first 10,000 tonnes of concentrate from Fremantle later this month.
Neometals managing director Chris Reed said that as of December 21, about 6,000 tonnes of concentrate had been produced from Mt Marion.
About 3,000 tonnes had been stockpiled at the Kwinana port with trucking continuing around the clock.
'Massive growth in demand' says PM
As recently as November, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull identified lithium as Australia's next major mineral export to China as the super-charged sector continues to ride the wave of an investment boom.
More than 70 ASX-listed companies moved into the lithium space last year.
Mr Turnbull noted lithium's increasing role in battery storage when he addressed the Minerals Council of Australia's annual parliamentary dinner in Canberra.
"Far from diminishing demand for our mineral exports, the digital revolution has enhanced the importance of cities and the infrastructure which enables them, not to speak of driving massive growth in demand for rare earth elements and lithium — of especial importance as battery storage expands from personal devices, to vehicles, to householders, to businesses, to national grids," Mr Turnbull said.
Other players in lithium market
Ken Brinsden's Pilbara Minerals is considered the next cab off the rank for WA lithium producers with its Pilgangoora mine
.
Mr Tse predicted current global demand would only support "one or two" other WA producers entering the market.
Among the early stage explorers is Tawana Resources and Pioneer Resources, which have both been actively drilling near Norseman.
Kidman Resources has also trumpeted a "globally significant" discovery called Earl Grey at its Mt Holland lithium project near Southern Cross.
Just 120km down the road is Poseidon Nickel, in which mining magnate Andrew Forrest holds a 15.94 per cent stake.
Kidman and Poseidon are in negotiations to restart the latter's moth-balled Lake Johnston nickel concentrator to process lithium from Mt Holland.
Poseidon's chairman Chris Indermaur said it made sense as Mt Holland had existing mining approvals in place and Lake Johnston could be retrofitted "reasonably simply" for lithium.
"Speed to market is the key while everyone else is trying to build processing facilities," Mr Indermaur said.
Elon Musk's Tesla is example of lithium potential
Mr Tse pointed to US technology company Tesla, headed by billionaire Elon Musk, as an example of the lithium industry's potential, predicting the next wave of investment would be driven by home power storage units, which take households off the electricity grid.
Tesla's Powerwall — a 7 kilowatt per hour (kWh) lithium-ion-battery system that stores electricity generated from rooftop solar panels during the day so electricity can be used during peak-usage times at night — became available in Australia earlier in 2016.
Many experts argue the emerging technology is not yet cost-efficient but Mr Tse said once they were, demand for lithium would rise.
"There are a lot of companies out there [exploring for lithium] but we have to be realistic about how many will get into production," Mr Tse said.
"I think the demand side of the equation is here for the long run, and I think potentially [there are] some future surprises for further growth, not only the electronics and automobile sector but the energy storage sector, which I think will be the next high growth sector."
"Things like home storage and distributor storage will be another end-user segment that will continue to push demand up."
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