Shares in the company, which maintains an office in Brisbane while its operations are in Western Australia and South America, have rocketed in recent weeks and it said it expected high prices for lithium to continue in the short term, while its contracts for lithium carbonate negotiated at 2021 prices came to an end in the March quarter.

It said spot prices for lithium carbonate and hydroxide have hit record highs and supply was short. Spodumene concentrate also doubled between the December and March quarters.

It reported that it had $US421 million in cash, which didn’t include a $73 million payment in March from a shipment in March from Mt Cattlin (WA).

It said its balance sheet and cashflow was expected to fund its growth strategy.

“The free-on-board cash cost of goods sold for the quarter was $US349 a tonne and gross cash margin for the quarter was 84 per cent or $US1835 a tonne (about $US121 million).

“This is expected to increase further with higher prices anticipated for the remainder of the June half year.”

At its Olaroz project in Argentina, Allkem said construction of its second stage was progressing and an economic analysis showed a pre-tax net present value of $US2.67 billion and a pre-tax internal rate of return of 192 per cent.

Earlier this month the company upgraded its resource in the Olaroz basin from 6.4 million tonnes (lithium carbonate equivalent) to 16.2 mt.

Allkem revenue for the March quarter was $US235 million and its gross operating cash margin was $US189 million which it said reflected strong market demand.

Its shares have risen more than 120 per cent in the past year and were up 6 per cent today.