MinRes misses guidance after ditching lithium megadeal

afr.com:

Mineral Resources has failed to hit guidance on lithium exports from its West Australian mine owned in partnership with New York giant Albemarle.

The miss on lithium shipments from the Wodgina mine was revealed on Wednesday, less than a week after Chris Ellison-led MinRes pulled out of a billion-dollar deal to acquire a stake in downstream assets in China owned by Albemarle.

Mineral Resources founder and managing director Chris Ellison. Philip Gostelow

Shipments of spodumene concentrate produced at Wodgina fell to 34,000 tonnes in the June quarter, down 26 per cent on the previous three months. Across the full-year, shipments were 143,000 tonnes, falling short of the 150,000-170,000 tonnes targeted by MinRes.

MinRes said on June 16 that it expected shipments to be at the lower end of its 150,000-170,000 target, and on the same day, downgraded guidance for the Mt Marion lithium mine it operates and owns in partnership with China’s Gangfeng.

Mt Marion shipments were down 2 per cent quarter-on-quarter at 39,000 tonnes to take the full-year to 149,000 tonnes. That result was within downgraded guidance of 145,000-150,000 tonnes.

MinRes said the average quarterly price for Mt Marion spodumene, inclusive of grade adjustments and product discounts, was $US2589 ($3814) a tonne, down 23 per cent on the March quarter.

A cooperation agreement with Ganfeng to convert Mt Marion spodumene concentrate into lithium battery chemicals was mutually terminated with effect from June 1. MinRes and Ganfeng have since confirmed there will be no payments to Ganfeng under the agreement for sales of lithium battery chemicals in calendar year 2023.

In the MinRes mining services division, production volumes were 58 million tonnes in the June quarter