Chinese lithium kingpin and Greenbushes part-owner Tianqi goes deep in the red with $1.1b half-year loss

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******** lithium kingpin and Greenbushes part-owner Tianqi goes deep in the red with $1.1b half-year loss

The ******** lithium goliath with a huge WA presence has swung to its first half-year loss since 2020, hit by the battery material’s massive price slump.

Tianqi Lithium posted a net loss of 5.21 billion yuan ($1.1 billion) for the first six months of 2024, compared to a profit of 6.45 billion yuan ($1.3b) a year earlier.

A glut of supply has overwhelmed slower-than-expected demand growth from electric-vehicle makers, driving spot carbonate and spodumene prices to three-year lows. The drawn-out slump has squeezed producers’ margins, forcing some to rethink expansion plans, reduce spending, or shutter facilities to weather the downturn.

Tianqi said it has changed to a monthly pricing formula from quarterly for spodumene concentrate from its Talison Lithium ****** venture in WA. Tianqi has a 26 per cent stake in Talison.

The adjustment, introduced in January, was aimed at reducing “the adverse impact” from the discrepancy between the pricing cycle and the market spot price.

Talison owns the massive low-cost Greenbushes lithium mine, 250km south of Perth, which raked in $6.3b of profit for its owners in 2023. The ******** giant therefore effectively received a $1.64b dividend windfall.

While Greenbushes has been a raging success for Tianqi, the $1b Kwinana plant it uses to refine the spodumene concentrate from the mine into lithium hydroxide has been plagued by technical issues.

It owns 51 per cent of the Kwinana plant with the remainder in the hands of IGO.

Tianqi, which has a footprint spanning China, Australia and Chile, said it sees market fundamentals improving within the next few years. It will continue to work with top miners to explore new resource opportunities, while speeding up development of domestic resources, it added.

Tianqi said that it obtained board approval in March for commodity hedging activity, with a maximum margin limit of 200 million yuan, but it has yet to engage in any futures hedging.

Along with the extremely volatile global lithium market, Tianqi and its rivals have had to contend with geopolitical and regulatory shifts as governments seek to safeguard access to resources.

Tianqi has been mired in tensions with SQM, in which it’s the second-largest shareholder, over the planned tie-up between the Chilean company and Codelco. In July, Tianqi filed an appeal to a court in Chile after the local securities regulator snubbed its request to seek shareholder approval for a deal that would see the state-owned company take control of a sprawling lithium operation.

On Friday, Tianqi said it will “safeguard the legitimate rights” it has as a shareholder of SQM. It will strengthen communication with relevant parties and actively respond to various circumstances, it added.

Bloomberg

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