It’s a hard time to be a Core Lithium (ASX:CXO) shareholder, if you’re one of the unlucky ones still holding on.
Because while the company may have made a few million in Q1 – Core says it shipped enough spodumene, and has enough fines leftover, to make A$25M – it’s running off stockpiles.
Back in January of 2024, when lithium prices fell nearly -90% YoY, Core made the devastating decision to stop mining altogether.
And in Q1 it’s got enough there for $25M, sure – but shareholders aren’t convinced.
The company’s shares were down -3.45% to 14cps in the first twenty minutes of trade, according to Cboe live pricing.
What’s more, Core expects its stockpiles to be depleted by ‘mid-2024’ – in other words, the start of FY25. It will, by that time, have restarted the Finniss operation.
What exactly will happen then isn’t particularly obvious. Core had 139,000/t of stockpiles left on March 31 and $80.4M in cash.
That $80.4M figure was “impacted by shipment timing, QP payments and settlement of the grants mining contract.”
Spodumene concentrate production was also down -14% QoQ which the company blamed on a 5-day shutdown for maintenance.
Newly found interim CEO Doug Warden described the quarter as “challenging.”
“It was pleasing to see the continued improvement in recoveries as processing of ore stockpiles continued during the quarter,” Warden said.
“Whilst processing of the remaining ore stockpiles is expected to be completed by June 2024, the Company has developed plans to restart of the Finniss operation, should the lithium price increase sufficiently to generate positive cash flow.”
Core last traded at 14cps – much like the lithium price, its returns are down near -85% YoY.