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- Shares in Orocobre (ORE) trade in the green after the company announces record production from its new Mt Cattlin mine in WA
- Orocobre produces just under 68,000 dry metric tonnes (dmt) of spodumene concentrate over the September quarter, with 89,640 dmt shipped at US$779 (A$1041) per tonne
- This translates to revenue of just under US$70 million (A$93.55 million) from Mt Cattlin, which came under Orocobre control after its $4 billion merger with Galaxy Resources
- From Orocobre’s Olaroz Project in Argentina, sales reached 2622 tonnes at US9341 (A$12,483) per tonne for quarterly revenue of US$24.5 million (A$33 million)
- Shares in Orocobre were up 2.44 per cent and trading at $9.24 each at 1:05 pm AEDT
Shares in lithium big-cap Orocobre (ORE) are trading green this morning after the company announced record production from its new Mt Cattlin mine in WA.
The company told investors Mt Cattlin produced just under 68,000 dry metric tonnes (dmt) of spodumene carbonate from Mt Cattlin at US$351 (A$469) per tonne.
Further, Orocobre shipped 89,640 dmt from Mt Cattlin at an average of US$779 (A$1041) per tonne, translating to just under US$70 million (A$93.55 million) in quarterly sales revenue from the project.
Orocobre said this was the second consecutive record quarter of production from Mt Cattlin.
In light of the strong quarterly numbers, the company bolstered its Mt Cattlin production guidance for 2021 to between 210,000 and 220,000 dmt of spodumene concentrate from the previous guidance of between 195,000 and 210,000 dmt.
At the same time, Orocobre slashed forecast cash costs to between US$390 and US$420 (between A$521 and A$561) per tonne from between US$420 and US$450 (between A$561 and A$601) per tonne.
Orocobre took control of the Mt Cattlin mine through its $4 billion merger with Galaxy Resources (GXY), which was implemented in August this year.
As for the Olaroz project in Argentina, which was once touted as Orocobre’s flagship project, the company produced just over 2800 tonnes of lithium carbonate.
Sales from Olaroz reached 2622 tonnes at US9341 (A$12,483) per tonne for quarterly sales revenue of US$24.5 million (A$33 million).
On the back of the strong quarter and the completed Galaxy merger, Orocobre said it held US$423.6 million (A$566 million) in cash at the end of September. Of this cash pile, however, the company has set aside US$140.1 million (A$187 million) as pre-completion guarantees for some important debt facilities.
Orocobre is busy building up several other key lithium projects in various countries.
These projects include the Naraha Plant in Japan, from which Orocobre plans to produce lithium hydroxide, and the Sal De Vida project in Argentina, from which Orocobre plans to produce battery-grade lithium carbonate.
On top of these, the newly-merged company is developing the James Bay project in Quebec, Canada. According to Orocobre, James Bay is a 330,000 tonne-per-annum spodumene operation, using open-pit mining methods similar to Mt Cattlin.
Shares in Orocobre were up 0.55 per cent and trading at $9.07 each at 11:56 am AEDT. The company has a $5.8 billion market cap.
