What this place is
Pilgangoora made spodumene a spot-traded commodity: its auctions in 2021-22 gave the market its first transparent lithium price signal.
Grade. Standard spodumene concentrate at around 5.5-6% Li2O.
“Grade” is the percentage of the useful stuff in the rock. A copper mine at 0.5% grade throws away 199 tonnes of rock for every tonne of copper it sells. That single number decides whether an orebody is a mine or just an interesting piece of geology.
What comes out
Lithium
A soft, silvery metal so light it floats on water, and the element that lets a rechargeable battery store a lot of…
Tantalum
A dense metal whose oxide layer stores charge extremely reliably, which is why it is in the capacitors of anything…
A “by-product” is a metal recovered because it happens to be in the same rock, not because anyone went looking for it. Its supply therefore follows the primary metal’s economics, not its own.
Who owns it
| Company | Role | Interest |
|---|---|---|
| Pilbara Minerals | Miner | Owner-operator |
As publicly reported by the operators. Ownership of large mines changes; verify against current company filings before relying on it.