The Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) share price will be on watch on Friday.
This follows the release of the lithium giant's quarterly update after the market close yesterday.
Pilbara Minerals share price on watch
For the three months ended 31 December, Pilbara Minerals delivered a 10% quarter on quarter increase in spodumene concentrate production to 162,151 dry metric tonnes (dmt).
This was achieved with a unit operating cost of A$579 per dmt, which was down 5% from the previous quarter and lower than its full year guidance range.
Pilbara Minerals shipped 148,627 dmt of spodumene concentrate during the period (up 8% quarter on quarter) at an average realised sales price of US$5,668 per dmt. The latter was up 33% from the last quarter.
The higher pricing was achieved from a combination of stronger market pricing and improved pricing outcomes following the completion of price reviews with major offtake customers. These new prices came into effect in December, allowing the company to benefit from them for one month during the quarter.
This saw Pilbara Minerals record spodumene concentrate sales of A$1.135 billion for the period, which led to the company ending the period with a ballooning cash balance of A$2.226 billion, up from $1.375 billion at the end of September. No wonder it plans to pay its maiden dividend this year!
Guidance
No changes have been made to its guidance at this stage.
However, management stated that it "expects to provide any update to its FY2023 Guidance with the release of its FY2023 half year result in late February 2023."
As things stand, it is still targeting production of 540,000 to 580,000 dmt with a unit operating cost of A$635 to A$700 dmt.
