Name of the Project
Pilgangoora Operation – P680 project expansion.

Location
Australia.

Project Owner/s
Pilbara Minerals.

Project Description
The project aims to increase the Pilgangoora Operation’s nameplate production capacity from about 580 000 t/y to 680 000 t/y of spodumene concentrate (P680 project). The project includes primary rejection, and crushing and ore sorting.

The primary rejection facility includes an additional heavy-media separation (HMS) circuit, installed between the coarse-ore stockpile and existing Pilgan plant HMS circuit, which will produce a coarse, low-grade lithia reject material, representing 20% to 25% of plant feed.

The crushing and ore-sorting facility will replace the existing contracted crushing services over time and is expected to lower operating costs while providing increased crushing capacity of about five-million tonnes a year to satisfy future expansion plans for the proposed P1000 project.

P1000 has a targeted production capacity of up to one-million tonnes a year.

Potential Job Creation
The project is estimated to create 355 jobs each year in the first two years of construction and an additional 320 jobs each year, on average, during operation.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
Not stated.

Capital Expenditure
The A$404-million P680 project was supported through loans from Export Finance Australia and the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, representing a total of A$250-million from the Australian government.  

Planned Start/End Date
The project was completed in August 2024.

Latest Developments
Pilbara Minerals has completed its P680 expansion project, with the new crushing and ore sorting facility at Pilgangoora opened on August 2.

The new facility is a significant technical development and is the biggest of its kind in the southern hemisphere and also the largest in the world for lithium processing, with an ore sorting capacity of more than 1 000 t/h.

The facility, which crushes and separates the lithium ore from waste, is the final component of the P680 project ,which increases Pilgangoora’s production capacity by about 30% to 680 000 t/y. It also underpins the next phase of expansion to one-million tonnes a year through the P1000 expansion project.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
None stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Pilbara Minerals, tel +61 8 6266 6266.