PLS’ revived Ngungaju lithium plant at Pilgangoora mine processes first ore

PLS’ Ngungaju processing plant has started churning out spodumene concentrate again, marking another milestone for WA’s resurgent lithium industry.

First ore at the revived Ngungaju was processed over the weekend and the plant will ramp up to steady state production through the current quarter.

PLS in January flagged a potential restart of the 200,000-tonne-per-annum Ngungaju — one of two processing plants at its flagship Pilgangoora operation in the Pilbara.

Ngungaju went into care and maintenance at the tail end of 2024 during a period that PLS boss Dale Henderson termed a “lithium winter”.

A tonne of spodumene concentrate was fetching about $US790 when Ngungaju was switched off — about a third of its current $US2250 price.

PLS in February struck a 150,000t-a-year offtake agreement with battery manufacturer Canmax Technologies.

That deal included a guaranteed price floor, which effectively underwrote Ngungaju’s operation for an extended period of time even if lithium prices collapsed again.

Ngungaju’s restart, which creates 87 jobs, comes as WA miners seek to quickly capitalise on a sharp rebound in demand for the battery commodity over the past year.

Mineral Resources last month restarted crushing and mining operations at its Bald Hill mine in the Goldfields.

MinRes first flagged a restart of Bald Hill in January but chief financial Mark Wilson at the time said the company would not dive head first into dusting off the mining operation given lithium is “such a volatile commodity”.

PLS is also broadening Pilgangoora into mid-stream processing.

Last month, PLS formally opened Australia’s first mid-stream lithium plant, albeit a pilot plant, amid a big government push for producers of critical minerals to move further down the battery manufacturing chain.

The mid-stream pilot plant will sustain 40 ongoing jobs as it churns through approximately 27,000 tonnes of Pilgangoora’s spodumene concentrate a year to produce 3,000t of lithium phosphate — a more valuable lithium product.

The mid-stream plant trial is expected to last for about two years. PLS is yet to reveal how much a commercial-scale plant would cost if the trial is successful, or where it will be built.