After trading in the red for much of the day, the Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO) share price has rebounded this afternoon.
At the time of writing, the lithium miner's shares are up 1% to $1.16.
This compares favourably to the ASX 200 index and its 1.6% decline.
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Why is the Core Lithium share price lifting?
Investors have been buying the company's shares today after it officially transitioned from being a lithium developer to a lithium miner.
According to the release, the Finniss Lithium mine has officially opened today. This makes it the first operating mine in the Northern Territory and Australia's only lithium mine outside Western Australia.
This is great news for shareholders given the sky high prices that fellow lithium miners Allkem Ltd (ASX: AKE) and Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) have been reporting in recent months.
The release explains that the Finniss mine was formally opened by the Minister for Mining and Industry, with Core Lithium's CEO, Chair, and members of the board also in attendance.
Management notes that this means that the company is on target to export Direct Shipping Ore (DSO) lithium by the end of this year. This follows the first sale of spodumene DSO product announced earlier this month.
Core Lithium's CEO, Gareth Manderson, commented:
Core is bringing production online at a time of high lithium prices, strong global demand and constrained supply. The Core team has done a fantastic job quickly transitioning from discovery and exploration to construction and shortly supply of high-grade lithium concentrate to a global market in just six years.
The first four years of production from the Finniss Lithium project is already secured with approximately 80% sold to offtake partners, including Ganfeng Lithium and Sichuan Yahua who have provided tremendous support during our development phase.
