No dividend from Greenbushes stake, IGO says

IGO has not pocketed a dividend from the joint venture covering the Greenbushes hard rock lithium mine due to weak market conditions and prices this quarter.

Tianqi Lithium Energy Australia (TLEA) - the JV between IGO and Tianqi - did not declare a dividend “due to prevailing market conditions for spodumene and lithium hydroxide”, IGO said in its September quarterly report.

Under the ownership structure, IGO has an indirect 24.99 per cent interest in the Greenbushes mine, through which it pockets dividends and a slice of the net profit.

Last quarter, IGO was paid $159.3 million in dividends from TLEA. For the full financial year, IGO received $761 million from TLEA, down from $1.18 billion in FY23.

The miner’s share of net profit from TLEA was $37.1 million for the September quarter, down 45 per cent from the prior period, attributed to lower spodumene sales and realised prices from Greenbushes.

For financial year 2024, IGO share of net profit from TLEA was $533 million, compared to $1.6 billion in FY23.

Over the September quarter, Greenbushes lifted production to 406,000 tonnes of spodumene and fetched an average realised price of $US872/t free on board.

That was compared to $US1,020/t in the prior quarter.

Overall, IGO posted underlying EBITDA loss of $2.9 million for the quarter, down significantly from $76.8 million in the June quarter.

“Our financial performance for the quarter was impacted by several factors, most notably the lower lithium prices flowing through for Greenbushes, and the lower production due to grades and mine sequence at Nova,” chief executive Ivan Vella said.

“However, operational performance at Greenbushes has been strong with an uplift in quarter-on-quarter production.”

In the quarter, IGO transitioned its Forrestania nickel operation to care and maintenance while production from its Nova mine also decreased, with that operation nearing the end of its mine life in the next two years.

Shares in IGO last changed hands at $5.29, down 0.28 per cent at 10.15AM AWST.