Elevra Lithium Limited (ASX:ELV; NASDAQ:ELVR), a North American lithium producer with projects in Québec, Canada, United States, Ghana and Western Australia, has announced an accelerated expansion plan for its North American Lithium (NAL) mine. The company has identified a pathway to stage permitting, construction, and capital investment to fast-track additional production with lower unit operating costs. This revised approach follows further refinement of the NAL mine expansion program.
Elevra previously outlined a whole-of-project expansion to increase spodumene concentrate production to 315ktpa, with construction slated for completion by the end of CY29. However, the critical path constraint was permitting. By utilising additional permitting information, Elevra has identified a project development sequence that provides a shorter timeframe to achieve increased production from NAL in a disciplined, agile, and time-efficient manner.
The revised expansion pathway will take the form of a series of debottlenecking steps. These steps are expected to increase production capacity above current levels in a staged manner, reduce the timeframe to achieve the expanded average Life of Mine (LOM) production volume of 315ktpa of spodumene concentrate, and enable capital investment to be staged, thereby reducing initial upfront capital requirements. The first increase of 15-20% in annual spodumene concentrate production above current levels is expected in mid-CY27, with further expansions to follow in early CY28 and early CY29.
According to Elevra’s CEO, Lucas Dow, this disciplined and pragmatic approach to accelerating production growth at North American Lithium has resulted in a materially improved development pathway. The company plans to update the scoping study in the first part of Q2 CY26 and then move directly to detailed engineering to advance the debottlenecking steps. Forecast post-expansion C1 LOM unit cash costs are now US$630 per tonne, with all-in sustaining costs remaining unchanged at US$680 per tonne. Key economic metrics, including a project NPV of approximately US$950 million and an IRR of 26.4%, remain highly attractive.
