Pilgangoora proves ore sorting can turn waste into profit while slashing costs and energy in the race for battery grade lithium

PLS’ Pilgangoora Operation delivered a standout June quarter, with production volumes up 77 percent and unit operating costs down 10 percent compared to the previous quarter thanks to the integration of the world’s largest lithium ore sorting plant.

Commissioned during the P1000 expansion, the facility now processes more than 1,000 tonnes per hour. Powered by TOMRA Mining’s sensor-based technology, it has boosted recoveries, lowered costs, and unlocked value from ore that had previously been considered uneconomic.

Speaking to The Rock Wrangler, Gavin Rech, area sales and technical manager for Australia at TOMRA Mining, said the most significant change has been the mine’s ability to access lithia units in lower-grade material that once would not have justified processing.

“The big change is unlocking value from lower-grade contact ore that would previously have been left behind,” Gavin explained. “By integrating sorting upstream, the operation can now recover more lithia units from the pit. That enhances overall resource utilisation and provides flexibility in how the mine is managed.”

Converting waste into product

Pilgangoora’s new plant deploys 10 TOMRA sorters, each with a distinct role in removing barren material before it can affect downstream processes. The line-up includes four COM Tertiary XRT units for fines, three COM XRT 2.0 units for mid-sized particles, and three PRO Primary Colour sorters for coarse material.

The XRT units use differences in atomic density to strip out iron-rich basalt waste, while the colour sorters rely on optical sensors to detect the darker appearance of mafic minerals compared to spodumene-bearing pegmatites. With the capacity to handle up to 200 tonnes per hour of rocks as large as 250 millimetres, the colour sorters are particularly effective in rejecting basalt at scale.

“The colour sorters remove more than 90 percent of contamination with very low lithium loss,” Gavin said. “That is because the basalt and associated mafic minerals we are rejecting have excellent liberation characteristics to begin with. So we are taking out the waste before it ever becomes a problem downstream.”

This capability has been pivotal in reducing reliance on high-grade ore and ensuring stable recoveries in flotation and heavy media separation circuits.

Efficiency gains

The energy savings are also considerable. By removing mass that is essentially barren basalt, the plant avoids subjecting that material to further crushing and grinding, the most energy-intensive stages of the flowsheet.

According to Gavin, the result is an annual reduction of up to 15 gigawatt hours in energy use. “The gains are not just economic but also environmental,” he said. “By not processing that hard, barren rock through the comminution and wet circuits, the operation cuts both power demand and water use.”

For an industry increasingly scrutinised for its carbon footprint, those reductions contribute directly to PLS’ sustainability credentials.

Testwork lessons

The success of the project was no accident. Several years of testwork at TOMRA’s Sydney Test Centre laid the foundation for commissioning. Bulk samples were processed on full-scale sorters to mimic real-world operating conditions and capture variability across ore domains.

“The critical step was understanding how lithium deported into the pegmatites and how basalt liberated from them,” Gavin recalled. “That knowledge ensured we could define the right size ranges for sorting, balancing capacity with efficiency and minimising lithium loss.”

By validating the technology at scale before site installation, the project avoided costly surprises and was delivered on time and on budget.

Implications for future growth

PLS has already completed its P1000 expansion and future potential expansions are being assessed through the P2000 feasibility study. Gavin said that as operations grow, the role of sorting technology will only become more important.

“Traditional beneficiation methods like dense media separation struggle with dense barren contaminants,” he noted. “Sorting tackles the problem at its source. By removing basalt and other barren lithologies upfront, you enhance concentrate purity, stabilise downstream processes, and consistently hit the specifications customers demand.”

An enabler to weather the storm

Perhaps the most profound impact of the project lies in how it allows the Pilgangoora Operation to increase mine flexibility, minimise stockpile generation, and provides resilience in the face of shifting market conditions.

For Gavin, the June quarter results are clear evidence of what sorting can deliver when integrated at scale. “What is important is that the technology proved itself not just in a test environment, but in full-scale operation at one of the world’s largest lithium mines,” he said. “That is a benchmark for the industry.”

The broader lesson

For lithium producers under pressure to deliver ever-greater volumes of high-purity concentrate with reduced environmental impact, the Pilgangoora experience offers a roadmap. Waste rejection at the start of the process does not just cut costs, it transforms economics, boosts sustainability, and builds operational resilience.

By turning what was once discarded into a valuable resource, PLS has shown how sensor-based sorting can shift the boundary between ore and waste, an insight likely to shape the future of lithium mining globally.