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Australia's lithium sector is entering a more disciplined phase.
After years of rapid expansion driven by electric vehicle demand and record spodumene prices, producers are now prioritising cost control, operational stability and processing efficiency alongside output growth.
Australia nevertheless remains the world's largest lithium producer, accounting for around 40% of current global output.
In Western Australia's Pilbara region, PLS Group's Pilgangoora operation has become a key example of that transition.
One of the world's largest hard rock lithium deposits, Pilgangoora holds more than 207 million tonnes of reserves and has evolved into a large-scale test case for how lithium producers manage ore variability and processing performance in a more volatile market environment, according to Australia Lithium Mining to 2035, a report byMining Technology's parent company, GlobalData.
That evolution accelerated through the P1000 expansion project, which increased spodumene concentrate production capacity at Pilgangoora by around 47% to as much as one million tonnes per annum (mtpa) through upgrades to the concentrator and associated infrastructure.
The project achieved first ore in January 2025, with ramp-up completed during the March quarter of 2025.
Alongside higher throughput, P1000 also marked the deeper integration of sensor-based ore sorting into the operation's core processing flowsheet.
Rather than functioning as a bolt-on optimisation tool, sorting is increasingly being used to manage geological variability, stabilise downstream processing and improve concentrate consistency at scale.
The sorting systems, supplied byTOMRA Mining, were first introduced through the earlier P680 installation before being expanded under P1000.
PLS is also progressing studies for the proposed P2000 expansion, which could lift Pilgangoora's production capacity beyond 2mtpa through the construction of a new processing plant.
Gavin Rech, area sales and technical manager at TOMRA Mining, has worked closely on Pilgangoora's sorting journey from early deployment through to steady-state operations at scale.
| Product | Price | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Brent Crude | $102.14/bbl | +0.34% |
| WTI Crude | $96.90/bbl | +0.21% |
| EN590 Diesel | $846/MT | +0.18% |
| Jet Fuel A-1 | $1090/MT | +0.55% |
| Mazut M100 | $450/MT | -0.15% |
| Bitumen 60/70 | $470/MT | +0.08% |
| Sulphur Gran 99.5% | $470/MT | -0.44% |
| Urea 46% Gran | $650/MT | +1.12% |
| NPK 16-16-16 | $460/MT | -0.28% |
| Nat Gas TTF | $15.42/MMBtu | +0.92% |
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