Largo (TSX:LGO) has optimised production at its Maracás Menchen operation in Brazil toward ‘higher-margin’ products, as copper-platinum group metal (PGM) concentrates generate operating profit margins above 90%.
Recent sales of copper-PGM concentrates generated about US$4.7 million ($6.7 million) in revenue, making it the highest-margin product from Largo’s operations.
The company has produced and shipped its first ‘high-purity’ vanadium pentoxide for the US Defense Logistics Agency and is completing production of a second shipment. An optimisation study indicates Largo can increase ‘high-purity’ vanadium to about 68% of total vanadium production.
Under the optimised plan, overall vanadium pentoxide output would trend towards about 876 tonnes per month, the low end of current production guidance, compared with about 1,000 tonnes per month at the upper end.
The lower output is expected to be more than offset by higher realised pricing and margins from the increased proportion of ‘high-purity’ vanadium.
‘High-purity’ material represented about 4% of Largo’s vanadium production in H1 2026, reflecting the impact of the tariff environment affecting Brazilian exports during 2025 and early 2026.
Largo continues to target copper-PGM concentrate production of about 300 to 380 tonnes per month and is evaluating a cost-efficient expansion that could double capacity during 2027.
The company benefits from more than 12 years of accumulated non-magnetic tailings containing recoverable metals, in addition to the roughly 30-year mineral resource life at Maracás Menchen.
Largo is a Canadian vanadium and ilmenite producer with operations in Brazil.
Write to JC Villarba at Mining.com.au
Images: Largo
