Pilbara Minerals' (ASX:PLS) shares traded as much as 21.5%...

Pilbara Minerals' (ASX:PLS) shares traded as much as 21.5% higher yesterday as the company continued to press its Tabba Tabba tantalite project near Port Hedland, Western Australia toward production this year.

Stock in the Pilbara region-focused developer hit a 52-week high of A$0.395, and closed at $0.38.

The spike punctuates a steady momentum achieved by the company, which was trading in a range of about $0.04-$0.05 for the first five months of the year before a string of project development milestones over the past two quarters firmed up company valuation.

This progress has included clearance to construct and commission the Tabba Tabba as well as the establishment of the world’s second-largest spodumene (lithium-tantalum) deposit at the Pilgangoora project.

Pilgangoora now holds 52.2 million tonnes grading 1.28% lithium oxide for 668,000 tonnes of lithium oxide, with 32.9 million tonnes grading 0.0222% tantalum oxide for 15.7 million pounds of tantalum oxide. 

More recently, Pilbara Minerals has completed an offtake agreement with an unnamed international group, bringing the company’s initial offtake portfolio for its spodumene products to six strategic partnership across China, Japan, South korea, Europe and North America.

These are the largest consuming regions for the high-quality, premier grade of spodumene that Pilbara anticipates being able to produce and supply at Pilgangoora.
 
Tabba Tabba, meanwhile, is on track for production in November, with a five-year exclusive mining and offtake agreement with Global Advanced Metals, one of the world's leading suppliers of tantalum products.