Troubled miner Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) lost more ground following news it will mothball its Bald Hill lithium operation in Western Australia.
MinRes dropped 7.20% to $34.95 by the closing bell on Wednesday (13 November).
The company, which has been dominating headlines of late due to allegations of tax evasion by founder and Managing Director Chris Ellison, says following a strategic review and in light of a prolonged period of low spodumene concentrate prices, Bald Hill will be transitioned to care and maintenance from this week.
“The transition to care and maintenance will preserve cash and the value of Bald Hill’s spodumene orebody for when conditions in the global lithium market improve,” the $7.4 billion company says.
MinRes was selling spodumene concentrate for US$1,279 ($1,958) per dry metric tonne in the 2024 financial year which was a steep 76% drop over the prior financial year.
Around 300 workers will be impacted by the Bald Hill closure, however MinRes says it will work to redeploy the workforce across its other Western Australian operations.
The broader S&P/ASX 200, meanwhile, slid 62.20 points, or 0.75%, to 8,193.40 points, crossing below its 20-day moving average. Over the last five days the index is virtually unchanged, but is 2.28% below its 52-week high.
The financial sector was the worst hit sector with a 1.19% decline, industrials dropped 0.99%, materials ended the session down 0.88% and energy slipped 0.22%. Utilities was the best performing sector, gaining 0.73% on Wednesday and 0.68% over the past five days.
Uranium miner Paladin Energy (ASX:PDN) was the top performer, growing its gains over the course of the trading day to close up 8.58% at $7.47. The company recovered some of yesterday’s (12 November) losses which were driven by a downwards revision in the anticipated 2025 production from its Langer Heinrich Mine in Namibia.
The S&P/ASX200 is Australia’s leading share market index and contains the top 200 ASX-listed companies in terms of market capitalisation, and accounts for about 80% of the country’s equity market. The index is designed to measure the performance of the 200 largest index-eligible stocks listed on the ASX by float-adjusted market capitalisation
It is recognised as the institutional investable benchmark in the country.
Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
Images: Mineral Resources & ASX
