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Australian lithium producer PLS — formerly Pilbara Minerals — is “deep into the thinking process around the right timing and the right set of triggers” for restarting its Ngungaju spodumene plant, chief executive officer Dale Henderson told Fastmarkets on the sidelines of the Future Minerals Forum (FMF) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Wednesday January 14.
“There’s no decision yet, but that could well be a very, very sensible step to take, to capitalize on the price dynamics you’re seeing at this time,” Henderson said, noting that PLS could bring the plant back online “within four months” once a decision is made.
The Ngungaju plant has been on care and maintenance since December 2024.
Spodumene prices rose sharply at the start of 2026, due to bullish market sentiment and higher lithium prices in China’s domestic market, market sources told Fastmarkets.
Fastmarkets’ daily benchmark assessment of the spodumene min 6% Li2O, spot price, cif China was $2,190-2,260 per tonne on Thursday January 15, down from $2,200-2,300 per tonne day on day but up sharply from $1,560-1,590 per tonne on January 2.
“But of course, undoubtedly, we won’t be alone [in considering a spodumene plant restart]. There’s some other swing supply in the system, so you’d have to expect people to act rationally as pricing improves,” Henderson said.
Other Australian spodumene operations, such as Mineral Resources’ Bald Hill lithium mine and Rio Tinto’s Mt Cattlin, remain in care and maintenance. Elsewhere, Core Lithium, which suspended production at its flagship Finniss Lithium project in January 2024, said the site remains in a “restart ready state” in its November 2025 annual general meeting.
The recent uptrend in spot spodumene and lithium salts prices is a reflection of the broader bullish demand outlook for lithium, according to Henderson.
“As a young industry, the pricing mechanisms and transparency around inventory are still maturing, and in the absence of some of the more sophisticated mechanisms that you see in mature markets, what happens then is you have, sometimes, sentiment-driven price reactions — the talk around the CATL mine restart being on and off is a case-in-point. Ultimately, I see that as a short-term phenomenon,” Henderson added.
“We’ve always been believers in the fundamental [lithium] growth drivers and they continue to take flight as it relates to BESS [battery energy storage systems], which was under-appreciated by some of the market,” Henderson said.
“That recognition has really come to bear, and I think part of that has been AI, data centers and connecting the dots with the incredible growth rates in solar, the continued adoption of wind farms and other energy-harvesting technology — this is, in our view, the growth and creation of a whole new industry, which shows strong promise, enormous scale over time and with demand that’s driven by new technology cases,” he added.
Fastmarkets’ energy storage systems (ESS) research team has raised its global ESS shipment forecast for 2026 by more than 60%, to 750 gigawatt hours from 460 GWh previously, with similar growth expected in 2027, underpinned by the construction of AI data centers and the trend of global energy transition.
Fastmarkets’ price assessment for lithium carbonate 99.5% Li2CO3 min, battery grade, spot prices cif China, Japan & Korea was at $19.60-21.00 per kg on Thursday, up from $15.50-17.00 per kg a week earlier.
Fastmarkets’ price assessment for lithium hydroxide monohydrate LiOH.H2O 56.5% LiOH min, battery grade, spot price cif China, Japan & Korea was at $19-21 per kg on Thursday, up from $13.50-17.50 per kg a week earlier.
BESS deployments have mostly been supported by lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery chemistries, which typically are produced with lithium carbonate. But PLS has downstream exposure to the lithium hydroxide market through its POSCO Pilbara Lithium Solution (PPLS) joint venture with South Korean conglomerate POSCO, a refinery in Gwangyang, South Korea.
Lithium hydroxide tends to be the preferred raw material input in the production of nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) battery chemistries. The NCM battery market, while still growing, has been buffeted by the dual pressures of slower demand globally and rising raw materials costs, especially for cobalt and nickel.
A number of counterparties have now qualified PPLS’ production from the two different production trains at the Gwangyang refinery for battery applications. Other customers are undertaking the qualification process, Henderson noted.
“We’re really happy with how [PPLS] is progressing — the key challenge of course is that the JV is set up principally to support a number of Western-based supply chains, and the demand for that subset has been more challenged,” Henderson said.
“We have seen this through some of the [electric vehicle-related] pullback in the US and elsewhere. Some of that has back-propagated through to the [South] Korean manufacturing pathway, but we see this as a short-dated phenomenon,” he added.
Henderson noted that, while PPLS has no plans to convert its lithium hydroxide into carbonate, “the good news is with most of these processes, you can augment them and process further into another product.”
“I think it’s also worth considering that what’s driving [the demand trend] is this battery chemistry war, and the jury’s still out on what that landscape will look like, particularly when you consider the likes of solid-state batteries — if those emerge well, the feedstock for solid-state [which could come from hydroxide] will obviously have to satiate that demand.”
Henderson noted the PPLS JV was the first step in PLS’ customer diversification strategy, adding that PLS has “the wonderful opportunity of a very impressive offtake profile, which is unallocated [following the recent capacity expansion at its flagship Pilgangoora plant], and in the months and years to come, we’ll have to think about where we direct those tonnes and continue to diversify as a key focus.”
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