Core Lithium has produced its first spodumene concentrate from the recommissioned processing plant at its Finniss lithium operation in the Northern Territory, marking a key milestone in the staged restart of the operation.
The milestone was achieved within six months of Core announcing the final investment decision (FID) to restart Finniss and in line with its September quarter 2026 target.
Core managing director Paul Brown said the first concentrate represented a significant milestone for the company and represents an important step in the operation’s restart.
“This achievement reflects the disciplined execution of our restart plan, from funding and mobilisation through to the recommencement of mining, plant commissioning and now the successful production of our first concentrate,” Brown said.
Production follows the recommencement of mining at the Grants open pit in May and the restart of the processing plant’s crushing circuit in August, which established sufficient crushed ore stockpiles for processing.
The processing plant is now in its commissioning and optimisation phase, with Core focused on improving performance, reliability and throughput as the operation progresses towards sustained production.
The recommissioning followed targeted upgrades to the processing circuit, including screen refurbishments, enhancements to the rolls crusher and tails thickener circuits, improvements to the ferrosilicon distribution system and the consolidation of crushing and dense media separation (DMS) plant operations into a single control room.
Core expects the upgrades to improve mineral liberation and recoveries while increasing the processing plant’s throughput capacity by about 20 per cent to 1.2 million tonnes per annum.
The Grants open pit is providing the near-term ore feed for the processing plant, while development of the BP33 underground mine continues in parallel.
Core said its logistics chain is already operational and it is targeting the first shipment of newly produced spodumene concentrate during the December quarter 2026, with production and shipments expected to continue into 2027.
“We have now successfully achieved first concentrate, and our focus is on continuing the commissioning and optimisation of the processing plant as we progressively build towards reliable and sustained production,” Brown said.
We remain focused on safe execution, operational reliability and delivering our first shipment of newly produced concentrate during the December quarter.”