PLS, formerly Pilbara Minerals, owns one of the biggest hard-rock lithium mines in the world. Here’s how it makes its money, and why its fortunes rise and fall with the lithium price.
PLS Group, formerly Pilbara Minerals, is one of the world’s largest independent lithium producers and one of the biggest lithium companies on the ASX. It now trades under the name PLS.
It owns the Pilgangoora operation in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, one of the largest hard-rock lithium mines in the world. It began production in 2018. PLS reports in Australian dollars, and its financial year ends on 30 June.
How PLS makes money
PLS digs up rock containing lithium and processes it into spodumene concentrate. It sells the concentrate to chemical companies, mostly in China, which refine it into lithium hydroxide or lithium carbonate for batteries.
Lithium is a key ingredient in the batteries used in electric vehicles and in large batteries that store renewable energy for power grids.
PLS earns the market price for its spodumene, so its revenue depends on lithium prices and on how much it produces. It has expanded Pilgangoora to produce more, and to lower the cost of each tonne.
It is also moving into processing, through a joint venture with South Korean steelmaker POSCO that makes lithium hydroxide in South Korea. In 2025, it bought Latin Resources, which owns the Colina lithium project in Brazil.
Boom and bust
Lithium prices soared in 2022 as electric vehicle sales boomed, then crashed by about 90 per cent as new supply flooded the market and demand grew more slowly than expected. PLS cut costs and temporarily shut one of its processing plants.
Prices recovered in 2026, helped by strong demand for batteries in energy storage, and PLS restarted that plant.
The risks
The risks include another fall in lithium prices, slower electric vehicle sales, new supply from Africa and South America, reliance on Chinese buyers, and new battery technologies that use less lithium.
Dale Henderson is managing director and chief executive.
Latest results, as at 9 November 2026
Full year to June 2026, reported 24 August 2026: revenue rose 152 per cent to $1.93 billion, and PLS swung to a profit of $526 million, from a loss of $196 million a year earlier. Production rose 17 per cent to a record 879,500 tonnes of spodumene. It resumed dividends, paying a final dividend of 5 cents a share, fully franked.
Next update: PLS reports its half-year results, to December 2026, in February 2027.
