Although Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) stock is on course to end the month with a decent session, this won't stop them from recording a sizeable decline for September.
Will things be better in October? Let's see what could impact the lithium miner's shares.
What could impact Pilbara Minerals stock next month?
There are a couple of things that could have a say in how Pilbara Minerals stock performs in October.
The first is of course the white metal it mines from its Pilgangoora lithium operation in Western Australia. Prices have been in free fall recently, so if they rebound, it could do wonders for sentiment in the industry.
In addition, Pilbara Minerals will be releasing its quarterly update next month. As well as revealing how much lithium spodumene it is producing, it should give the market an idea of the price it is commanding and the cost of pulling it out of the ground.
As a reminder, Pilbara Minerals is guiding to production of 660kt to 690kt of spodumene concentrate at a grade of 5.2% in FY 2024. This averages out to approximately 165kt to 173kt a quarter.
It is also targeting unit operating costs of between $600 to $670 per dry metric tonnes (dmt) (US$390- $US436 per dmt) for the year.
As for prices, in FY 2023 Pilbara Minerals delivered an average realised price of US$4,447 per tonne. However, at the start of the week, Goldman Sachs noted that spot spodumene price for 6% grade was down at US$2,370 per tonne. It will be interesting to see what price Pilbara Minerals has been able to command.
As a guide, Goldman is forecasting an average realised price of US$3,322 per tonne for the company in FY 2024. Anything better or worse than this could potentially cause a swing in its share price.
Stay tuned for its update next month.
