PLS Group (ASX:PLS) will receive up to $38.1 million in funding for its Mid-Stream Demonstration Plant Project, located 120km south of Port Hedland in Western Australia.
The funding, granted through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency’s Advancing Renewables Program, will help to cover project operating costs.
The spodumene concentrate plant is designed to have a 27 kilo tonne (kt) annual capacity with lower emissions. The plant will produce 3kt of lithium phosphate and test the feasibility of more efficient and lower-carbon processing pathways for hard-rock lithium.
Testing aims to validate lithium-enriched mid-stream production via electric flash calcination technology. PLS believes that renewable energy could lower the carbon intensity of hard-rock lithium processing.
The plant will be powered from Pilgangoora’s integrated on-site energy system, which includes gas-fired generation, solar, and battery storage.
Spodumene concentrate production will include intermediate chemical products, potential margin improvements, product positioning, and emerging battery supply chain participation.
PLS has a joint venture with South Korea-headquartered steel manufacturer POSCO (KRX:005490) and a lithium phosphate offtake agreement with global cathode active material maker Ronbay (SHA:688005).
The company will incorporate feedback from its offtake relationship with Ronbay to assess downstream requirements and support both technology and market pathway validation efforts.
“The Mid-Stream Demonstration Plant is a deliberate step by PLS to test whether more value can be captured at the resource by moving further along the lithium value chain,” Managing Director and CEO Dale Henderson says.
“This is a disciplined validation and optimisation phase… [and], if the technology performs and the product is accepted by the market, it creates a meaningful strategic option for PLS.”
PLS will begin commissioning the plant immediately, and the first product is expected to be delivered during the September quarter of 2026.
The company will continue to commission and ramp up throughout the 2027 financial year. Operating rates will increasingly progress as the plant completes testing and optimisation work.
PLS Group is a lithium materials producer with a global asset portfolio.
Write to Richard Szabo at Mining.com.au
Images: PLS Group
