Pilbara Minerals boss Dale Henderson says his phone is switched to silent as a constant stream of car and battery makers try to secure supplies of lithium, and he doesn’t expect the calls to stop any time soon.
The $16 billion company’s operations in Western Australia continued to spew cash in the September quarter after an increase in production – albeit at a lower grade – and higher spodumene concentrate prices.
Pilbara Minerals ended the quarter with a cash balance of $1.37 billion, an increase of $783.7 million from June 30, and has flagged that it will start to pay dividends as part of a capital management strategy to be unveiled before the end of calendar 2022.
It continues a remarkable turnaround for Pilbara Minerals, which posted a maiden full-year profit of $561.8 million for 2021-22 after a $51.4 million loss a year earlier, when it struggled for survival in the aftershock of the last lithium boom.
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