The Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO) share price is flying high on Thursday.
In afternoon trade, the lithium miner's shares are up a decent 5% to $1.08.
Why is the Core Lithium share price charging higher?
Investors have been bidding the Core Lithium share price higher today following the release of a positive announcement.
According to the release, Core Lithium has made its first shipment of lithium to a customer in China.
The company revealed that the ship Rossana, loaded with 15,000 dry metric tonnes (dmt) of 1.4% Li2O spodumene Direct Shipping Ore (DSO) from the Finniss Lithium Operation, has set sail from Darwin Port.
This marks the maiden shipment of lithium from Finniss and is the company's first revenue event. Management also highlights that it is a significant milestone in Core Lithium's journey to deliver sustained shareholder value.
Core Lithium sold the lithium to a lithium-ion battery supply chain participant in Fangcheng, China, for a price of $US951/dmt. This values the shipment at approximately US$14.25 million.
'Significant milestone'
The company's CEO, Gareth Manderson, was pleased with the news. He said:
I am proud of the Core team and our contract partners for safely delivering this significant milestone in our Company's history. This first shipment of lithium product has also allowed our team to successfully commission the logistics chain linking Finniss to the Darwin Port.
Manderson advised that the company will now turn its focus to the production of high-quality spodumene concentrate from Finniss. He added:
Our focus now is to safely complete construction of the dense media separation (DMS) plant at Finniss to enable us to produce high-quality spodumene concentrate.
