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IGO Limited announced first spodumene concentrate output from Chemical Grade Plant 3 (CGP3) at the tier-one Greenbushes lithium operation, located in southwestern Western Australia. Greenbushes is operated by Windfield Holdings, a joint venture owned by Tianqi Lithium, IGO, and Albemarle Corporation. Construction and dry commissioning of the 550 million Australian dollar processing facility were completed on schedule, initiating the wet ore commissioning sequence through the ball mills, dense media separation cyclones, and flotation banks.
Once fully ramped up across the next twelve months, CGP3 will contribute an additional 520,000 tonnes per annum of six percent battery-grade spodumene concentrate, expanding Greenbushes' total aggregated production capacity past 2.0 million tonnes annually. This expansion solidifies Greenbushes' status as the lowest-cost, highest-grade hard-rock lithium operation globally, with cash operating costs maintaining a structural benchmark below 280 Australian dollars per tonne of concentrate produced. High-grade feed is sourced from the expansive, long-life pegmatite orebody mined via large-scale open-pit methods.
In its quarterly operational review, IGO reported that the existing Chemical Grade Plants 1 and 2 and the Tailings Retreatment Plant produced a combined 342,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate during the quarter, generating robust operating cash flows despite cyclical volatility in global lithium spot pricing. At the Kwinana lithium hydroxide refinery, train one achieved sustained commercial throughput, delivering battery-quality chemical product to certified European and East Asian cathode manufacturers.
Executive management stated that expanding output at the lowest quartile of the global lithium cost curve provides unparalleled resilience against macroeconomic and market fluctuations. With long-term global electric vehicle adoption, grid-scale energy storage deployments, and consumer electronics continuing to drive compound annual demand growth, Greenbushes remains the cornerstone asset of the Australian critical minerals complex. The joint venture partners confirmed that work on infrastructure supporting long-term water recycling and tailings dewatering is proceeding in tandem.