IGO shares slide after fire at processing plant

IGO says spodumene production remains on track after reporting that a fire broke out at its new chemical-grade processing plant at the Greenbushes lithium operation.

Shares in the critical minerals miner slid in morning trade after reporting a fire had occurred at its $880 million Chemical Grade Plant 3 (CGP3) plant at the Greenbushes mine site yesterday.

IGO said the fire was extinguished and no injuries were sustained, and that its first and second chemical crushing and processing plants on site were unaffected by the blaze. 

The third chemical plant at the hard-rock lithium operation in the state’s South West falls under the ownership of Talison Lithium, in which IGO owns an indirect 25 per cent stake, alongside China’s Tianqi Lithium (26 per cent) and US major Albemarle Corporation (49 per cent).

CGP3 is the third chemical grade plant built at the Greenbushes operation, which is still ramping up after processing first ore in December last year.

It has a processing capacity of 2.4 million tonnes per annum to produce up to 500,000 tonnes per annum of lithium mineral concentrate. 

The market was told Talison Lithium had commenced a full investigation into the cause and damage from the incident on Tuesday.

IGO said Greenbushes production remained on track to meet its FY26 guidance of between 1,375 million and 1,425 million tonnes of spodumene concentrate.

The fire at the new plant represents another setback for the critical minerals miner, which has been grappling with challenges at its co-owned Kwinana lithium hydroxide plant.

That downstream processing plant is operating at about 50 per cent nameplate capacity, which was an improvement when reported in the March quarter.

IGO and joint venture partner in the plant, Tianqi Lithium, have been increasingly at odds over the future of the plant, after the ASX-listed miner wrote down its value to zero.

Shares in IGO are trading down 6 per cent to $8.48 apiece at 11AM AWST.