The Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO) share price is up 1.8% to 11 cents while the S&P/ASX All Ords Index (ASX: XAO) is 0.1% higher today.
The ASX lithium share is in the green after the junior miner released its annual report on Friday.
The report discusses what the company has done during FY25 to prepare for a future restart of its flagship Finniss Lithium Project.
Let's review.
Core Lithium share price rises as miner details new operating model
Finniss, located in the Northern Territory, achieved first concentrate production in 2023 but was placed in care and maintenance in 2024.
Core Lithium was among several junior lithium players that shut down operations due to the collapse of commodity prices last year.
Commodity values fell due to higher global production and cooling demand for lithium to power electric vehicles.
With production shut down, Core Lithium management spent FY25 trying to come up with a better operating model for the future.
The company commenced and completed a restart study with the aim of enhancing the project's future prospects.
The study involved a bottom-up assessment to develop a new mining and processing plan that would reduce operating and capital costs and improve operating efficiency, to protect the project throughout the commodity price cycle in the future after a restart.
CEO Paul Brown said the study had identified ways to reduce mining costs by 40% and processing costs by 33%.
The study also found ways to reduce pre-production capital expenditures by 29%.
What's changing?
The new operating model includes transitioning to 100% ownership of all infrastructure and improved throughput and recovery from the DMS plant.
In March, Core Lithium announced its intention to buy the crushing circuit, which will halve future crushing costs under the new model.
Core Lithium also plans to upgrade the processing plant with a series of low capex improvements, which will increase throughput by 20% to 1.2 million tonnes per annum and enhance lithium recovery to an average of 78%.
This week, the miner announced it had paid $2 million to end its offtake agreement with Ganfeng Lithium Group early.
This will allow the company to sell future spodumene production to other clients via the spot market.
Brown said the new operating model would create "highly competitive unit operating costs" and "a materially lower cost base".
This is crucial given Core Lithium is now looking for new funding partners for the future.
Core Lithium still digging
Exploration activities continued during FY25 with the aim of expanding the mineral resources estimate and finding more lithium and gold.
Core Lithium said the Ore Reserve increased by 16% with the restart study.
Brown discussed some successes:
Adding to our lithium inventory or making a discovery in a different commodity on our existing tenements are the biggest opportunities to create value for shareholders through target exploration. I'm pleased to report that we had success on both fronts.
We completed sufficient drilling to support the establishment of a high-grade lithium exploration target at Blackbeard of 7-10 million tonnes at grade of 1.5-1.7% Li2O and promising early stage work on the Shoobridge gold project.
When will Finniss restart operations?
Non-executive chair Greg English described FY25 as among the most challenging years for the lithium industry this decade.
However, he said conditions were cyclical and the outlook remained bright, commenting:
Demand growth from electric vehicles, energy storage, and renewable integration will require substantial new supply.
Projects like Finniss, with approvals, infrastructure, and demonstrated product quality, are well placed to respond.
English said the company was committed to restarting Finniss when the time was right and creating a "more efficient and profitable operation" in the meantime.
However, finding new funding partners is key to the recommencement.
English said:
We are not yet at a point where we could consider restarting the operation.
Any decision in this regard will be subject to securing an attractive project financing solution and market conditions, amongst other factors.
As we start financial year 2026, there has been some early signs of improvement in sentiment towards lithium which we would like to see continue.
FY25 works were funded by existing cash reserves. Core Lithium had a cash balance of $23.5 million and no debt at the end of the year.
Last month, Core Lithium undertook a $60 million capital raising that it said attracted high-quality partners, including new investors.
The $50 million institutional placement price was 10.5 cents per Core Lithium share.
A $10 million shareholder purchase plan (SPP) closed this week.
Core Lithium said it would use the new funds to advance the project to a Final Investment Decision (FID).
