Pilbara Minerals has almost doubled the price of its spodumene concentrate after completing a second auction through its battery materials exchange (BMX) platform.
The company sold 8000 tonnes of spodumene for $US2240 ($3052) per tonne in the second auction, which exceeds the first sale on the BMX platform of $US1250 per tonne in July.
BMX is a digital auction platform where companies can bid on Pilbara Minerals’ spodumene concentrate supply.
When freight costs are added, the sale is equivalent to $US2500 per tonne, with ship loading expected in November once the bidder enters a sales contract.
Pilbara Minerals has received strong interest on the BMX platform after it was launched this year.
The company anticipates it will ship between 550,000 and 580,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate by June 2022 through offtake agreements and the BMX platform.
“With significant growth in the battery raw materials supply chain now expected, the introduction of our battery material exchange trading platform should position Pilbara Minerals well to maximise its participation,” Pilbara Minerals managing director and chief executive Ken Brinsden said in March.
“Creating a digital marketing and sales platform represents a logical evolution for the industry and we are pleased to be working with GLX Digital to lead the industry.”
“Given the strong margins yielded through the BMX trading platform to date, Pilbara Minerals expects to channel more concentrate sales through the platform, including concentrate generated from the recommencement of the Ngungaju processing plant,” Pilbara Minerals stated.
Meanwhile, Pilbara Minerals approved the restart of the Ngungaju plant (formerly the Altura Lithium operation) in June.
In September, it also increased the resource of the Pilgangoora tantalum-lithium project by 39 per cent to 309 million tonnes due to the discovery of pegmatite domains and integrations from Ngungaju.
Pilbara Minerals shipped 281,440 dry metric tonnes of spodumene concentrates at $519 per dry tonne from the Pilgangoora project in the 2020-21 financial year.