Good News & Bad News, page-2825

https://www.resourcesrisingstars.co...impending-havoc-under-supplied-lithium-market

It was the flash from Pilbara (PLS) that the winning bid in the first of its online auctions of spodumene on its nascent Battery Material Exchange was an amazing $US1,250 a tonne.
Compare that with index prices of about $US500/t as recently as April and it has got to be wondered just where the scarcity factor for the lithium raw material is going to take prices.
After making his escape from Kalgoorlie back to Perth, Pilbara CEO Ken Brinsden is in no doubt where it’s headed: “It’s only just started”.
The BMX spot sales platform is new to the industry, one that is so opaque, it’s not funny. Sales of spodumene and the end products of lithium hydroxide and carbonate are traditionally done under offtake contracts.
But the initial success of the BMX auction means that the potential for a deep and transparent spot market could be with us. Brinsden said another auction was likely before the end of the month.

Tonnages aren’t big at this stage – the first one was for 10,000t – but Pilbara is giving thought to the potential for batching up a bunch of cargoes for delivery in the March quarter next year on a futures basis.
Pilbara’s big-time spot sale capacity comes from the Altura operation, acquired earlier this year for a song. The company’s existing and adjacent Pilgan operation is committed under offtake agreements until 2024.
Pilbara is working at getting the Altura operation up and running again in the December quarter, with a ramp-up to an annual rate of 200,000t in the first six months of 2022 the plan.