IGO - IGO Limited

[Dona Ferentes]

not a secret... $5.32
.
In line with the accounting standards and as it prepares to release its 1H25 Audited Financial Results, IGO has been assessing the carrying value of Kwinana. While the impairment testing process remains incomplete and the Company is working to determine the quantum of the impairment, IGO expects to recognise an additional share of net loss from TLEA in respect of a substantial pre-tax impairment in its financial results for the half year ended 31 December 2024.

IGO will provide full details of the final impairment value when it announces its 1H25 Financial Results on 20 February 2025.

 

[Sean K]

not a secret... $5.32
.
In line with the accounting standards and as it prepares to release its 1H25 Audited Financial Results, IGO has been assessing the carrying value of Kwinana. While the impairment testing process remains incomplete and the Company is working to determine the quantum of the impairment, IGO expects to recognise an additional share of net loss from TLEA in respect of a substantial pre-tax impairment in its financial results for the half year ended 31 December 2024.

IGO will provide full details of the final impairment value when it announces its 1H25 Financial Results on 20 February 2025.

I considered this a long term hold about a year or so ago. Now, I'm glad I only lost a shirt on it.

Maybe it's a long term buy if you are a contrarian. ie, buy when there's blood on the streets.

 

[sptrawler]

Things are going from bad to worse on the battery materials front.

Australia’s lithium dream is fading. Can tax breaks revive it?

The prime minister believes he can revive hopes of turning Australia into a minerals processing powerhouse. Is this anything other than wishful thinking?

www.afr.com

The $1.2 billion lithium hydroxide refinery on the shores of Perth’s southern beaches was once heralded as vital to Australia’s dream of becoming a battery minerals processing powerhouse.

Today, the Tianqi Lithium plant sits in an uneasy state – its expansion plans in tatters, its future bleak. Conveyor belts that once ferried lithium-rich rock to a 1000-degree kiln and onto a vat of chemicals lay idle for long periods at the start of the year.

Plans to double the size of the plant – a short drive from Perth in the industrial suburb of Kwinana – were shelved in January. High costs, low lithium prices, technical problems and unfavourable economics are conspiring to kill off the facility entirely, and with it another slice of Australia’s dream.

In the past two and half years, the price of lithium – a mineral critical to the renewable energy transition and used in the manufacture of rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles and homes – has plunged almost 90 per cent, due to oversupply and weaker-than-expected electric vehicle demand. Miners from Australia to China to South America rushed to bring production online in anticipation of unprecedented demand. Instead, the lithium boom turned into a spectacular bust.

While some observers believe prices have bottomed, miners, refiners and car manufacturers are still working through a supply glut, which is clouding the future of projects such as Tianqi Lithium.

“It wasn’t economically viable,” explains Tianqi – the Hong Kong-listed group that operates the Kwinana joint venture with Australia’s IGO – of its expansion plans. Barrenjoey metal and mining analyst Daniel Morgan is more blunt in his assessment. “We value Kwinana at zero, as do most of the investors,” he says.

Despite having spent more than $1 billion to establish the facility, the economics behind an expansion to double its output do not add up, laments Ivan Vella, IGO’s chief executive. “Australia offers no distinctive advantage in the business of lithium chemical processing or, for that matter, any of the major mineral processing downstream industries,” says Vella. “Any investment in downstream processing needs to be competitive on a global scale.”

China dominates the market for critical minerals, including 90 per cent of lithium processing, and the price rout has reinforced its dominance over the sector as Western projects falter.

Wary of China’s global dominance in the supply chain of critical minerals, governments such as Canada, Australia and the United States have pushed to secure local sources and wrest control away from Beijing. As such, suppliers were betting that a “non-China premium” for their processed lithium would eventuate.

Yet, the stark reality is that despite political rhetoric about supply chain security, cost efficiencies remain king in the lithium market and the lowest price producers are winning. Beijing is renowned for keeping a lid on prices to thin out global competitors. Lithium is no exception.

 

[divs4ever]

Things are going from bad to worse on the battery materials front.

Australia’s lithium dream is fading. Can tax breaks revive it?

The prime minister believes he can revive hopes of turning Australia into a minerals processing powerhouse. Is this anything other than wishful thinking?

www.afr.com

The $1.2 billion lithium hydroxide refinery on the shores of Perth’s southern beaches was once heralded as vital to Australia’s dream of becoming a battery minerals processing powerhouse.

Today, the Tianqi Lithium plant sits in an uneasy state – its expansion plans in tatters, its future bleak. Conveyor belts that once ferried lithium-rich rock to a 1000-degree kiln and onto a vat of chemicals lay idle for long periods at the start of the year.

Plans to double the size of the plant – a short drive from Perth in the industrial suburb of Kwinana – were shelved in January. High costs, low lithium prices, technical problems and unfavourable economics are conspiring to kill off the facility entirely, and with it another slice of Australia’s dream.

In the past two and half years, the price of lithium – a mineral critical to the renewable energy transition and used in the manufacture of rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles and homes – has plunged almost 90 per cent, due to oversupply and weaker-than-expected electric vehicle demand. Miners from Australia to China to South America rushed to bring production online in anticipation of unprecedented demand. Instead, the lithium boom turned into a spectacular bust.

While some observers believe prices have bottomed, miners, refiners and car manufacturers are still working through a supply glut, which is clouding the future of projects such as Tianqi Lithium.

“It wasn’t economically viable,” explains Tianqi – the Hong Kong-listed group that operates the Kwinana joint venture with Australia’s IGO – of its expansion plans. Barrenjoey metal and mining analyst Daniel Morgan is more blunt in his assessment. “We value Kwinana at zero, as do most of the investors,” he says.

Despite having spent more than $1 billion to establish the facility, the economics behind an expansion to double its output do not add up, laments Ivan Vella, IGO’s chief executive. “Australia offers no distinctive advantage in the business of lithium chemical processing or, for that matter, any of the major mineral processing downstream industries,” says Vella. “Any investment in downstream processing needs to be competitive on a global scale.”

China dominates the market for critical minerals, including 90 per cent of lithium processing, and the price rout has reinforced its dominance over the sector as Western projects falter.

Wary of China’s global dominance in the supply chain of critical minerals, governments such as Canada, Australia and the United States have pushed to secure local sources and wrest control away from Beijing. As such, suppliers were betting that a “non-China premium” for their processed lithium would eventuate.

Yet, the stark reality is that despite political rhetoric about supply chain security, cost efficiencies remain king in the lithium market and the lowest price producers are winning. Beijing is renowned for keeping a lid on prices to thin out global competitors. Lithium is no exception.

so does WES step in the buy out one of both partners , they have the Kidman Resources assets and it the plant is offloaded cheap ....

WES has been known to buy assets no-one else will touch ( like Coles-Myer )

i hold IGO and WES

 

[sptrawler]

so does WES step in the buy out one of both partners , they have the Kidman Resources assets and it the plant is offloaded cheap ....

WES has been known to buy assets no-one else will touch ( like Coles-Myer )

i hold IGO and WES

Yes the Chinese are certainly manipulating the market and IGO have taken a hammering buying into Tianqi, hopefully other companies take note.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/tianqi-lithium-swung-to-net-loss-in-2024-on-lower-lithium-products-prices-11d258cb?mod=markets

China's Tianqi Lithium swung to a net loss in 2024 on the back of a fall in lithium products prices.

The company said late Wednesday that it reported a net loss of 8.73 billion yuan, equivalent to $1.20 billion, compared to a net profit of 7.28 billion yuan a year ago.
Revenue for the full year fell 68% to 13.03 billion yuan.
The company said it posted on-year growth in production and sales volume of lithium compounds and derivatives.
However, due to the fluctuation of the lithium products market, the market price of lithium products showed a significant downward trend, Tianqi Lithium said.
This saw sales price and gross profit of the company's lithium products decrease significantly compared to the same period a year ago, it added.

 

[divs4ever]

Encounter regains 100% of Yeneena Copper – Paterson Province

Encounter Resources (ASX: ENR) (‘Encounter’ or ‘the Company’) advise that IGO Limited(ASX:IGO) (‘IGO’) has withdrawn from the Yeneena Farm-in joint venture agreement and returned 100% ownership of the project.

Key Highlights:
 100% ownership of Yeneena reverts to Encounter following IGO Limited’s withdrawal from the Farm-in and Joint Venture Agreement.
 Encounter will assess the significant technical data-sets generated under the farm-in to refine and prioritise the next phase of exploration, including:-
Potential for depth extensions to the BM1 high-grade copper oxide discovery-
20m @ 2.0% Cu from 22m including 12m @ 3.2% Cu from 32m (EPT 476)
- 10m @ 6.8% Cu from 32m including 2.8m @ 12.3% Cu from 32m (EPT 751)
- 18m @ 3.2% Cu from 32m including 9m @ 6.0% Cu from 37m (EPT 2060)
- Drill testing the large copper leakage anomaly identified at BM5

Executive Chairman, Will Robinson, Comments:“The return of the Yeneena Copper Project comes at a time of strong demand for Tier 1 copper opportunities.
With renewed control, we’re evaluating the high-quality data generated under the farmin, with plans to advance exploration at the high-grade BM1 copper zone and targets defined at BM5.

While Yeneena presents compelling copper upside, our West Arunta Niobium Project remains a core strategic priority, reflecting the strength and balance of Encounter’s project portfolio.

We thank the IGO team for their collaborative and professional contribution over the past six years.”

i hold IGO

intriguing , too hard to develop , possibly , six years ad still drilling test holes

 

[frugal.rock]

Not a good day for IGO.
Going ex divs tomorrow doesn't help!
Down ~13%