PLS evaluating the restart of its large Ngungaju processing plant at Pilgangoora as ‘lithium winter’ ends

PLS has joined the race among WA miners to bring spodumene concentrate production out of hibernation as a “lithium winter” ends. The Dale Henderson-led miner on Friday said it was evaluating a potential restart of the 200,000-tonne-per-annum Ngungaju processing plant — one of two processing plants at its flagship Pilgangoora operation in the Pilbara. “Subject to the outcomes of this evaluation, the board expects to consider whether to proceed with a restart decision during the March quarter,” it said. “If approved, the Ngungaju plant is expected to be capable of resuming production within approximately four months of a restart decision.” PLS put Ngungaju into care and maintenance in December 2024, with 50 jobs lost in the process. PLS is in negotiations with customers over a price floor for Ngungaju’s output, which would effectively underwrite the plant’s operation for an extended period of time even if lithium prices collapse again. Ngungaju being marked for revival comes a day after three of PLS’ WA lithium rivals also announced they were mulling production increases amid a sharp improvement in market demand. Mineral Resources flagged a restart at Bald Hill, Liontown dusted off major expansion plans at its flagship Kathleen Valley operation and IGO signalled more growth at WA’s biggest lithium mine — Greenbushes. Barring the consistently profitable Greenbushes, WA’s lithium mines swung from loss-making territory to profitability during the final quarter of 2025. PLS achieved an average realised spodumene concentrate price of $US1161 a tonne in the December quarter, an increase of 57 per cent compared to the previous three months. It added $102 million of cash during the quarter to sit on a $952m bank balance by December 31. Mr Henderson declared the “lithium winter” over in his opening address on a call with analysts on Friday morning. “Over the past 18 months, the lithium market has been at what many have described as a lithium winter, a period of oversupply, pricing pressure and heightened volatility,” he said. “Since the trough (in June), pricing has more than tripled, signalling a material shift in market conditions for PLS. The December quarter marked an inflection point.” Speaking to The West Australian after the call, Mr Henderson said it was difficult to predict how much pressure prices would be under with production increases by his company and three rivals on the horizon. But he believes another market rout is not on the cards. “With the downturn over the past two years the number of operations put into care and maintenance, including our Ngungaju facility, by our estimates that was something like approximately 15 per cent of the supply base,” Mr Henderson said. “Meanwhile, industry demand has continued to compound at a growth rate of above 20 per cent, so even if those that supply comes on demand at current rates supports it. “But I think the swing supply in the system will still apply an abundance of caution given where we’ve come from and the underlying volatility.” Despite the uplift in prices, mergers and acquisitions interest in the lithium market is “pretty quiet”, according to the PLS boss. The sharp rebound in lithium prices has been attributed to booming demand for battery energy storage systems and low lithium inventory levels in China. Shares in PLS finished 6.5 per cent in the red by 9.50am on another wild trading day for lithium stocks. PLS was trading 4 per cent in the green at 9am.