Dale Henderson PLS.AX

Managing Director and CEO, PLS Group

PLS Diggers and Dealers 2026 Presentation

📅 Aug 04, 2026 PLS 20 MIN 1355 VIEWS 26 SEGMENTS · 2 SPEAKERS

Watch PLS Managing Director and CEO Dale Henderson's presentation at the 2026 Diggers and Dealers Mining Forum in Kalgoorlie.

What Dale Henderson said

Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.

Dale Henderson, CEO of Pilbara Minerals, told the Diggers and Dealers conference that the lithium industry remains volatile, with prices swinging from lows of $600 per ton to $2,400 per ton within nine months. He emphasized that demand is strong, citing Benchmark Minerals' forecast of 219% growth over the next decade, and highlighted EV growth in Europe (20%), Asia ex-China (78%), rest of world (122%), and Australia (117%). Henderson argued that reliability, not just resource quality, is becoming key, with long-run price expectations up 100% to $2,400 per ton. He detailed Pilbara's strategy: record production and sales, over $500 million cash operating margin in the June quarter, and $3.1 billion capital deployed over FY23-FY25. He announced the P2000 expansion named Jimagana, with a study due in December, and noted a $600 million bond raised.

Key takeaways

Price volatility: from $600 to $2,400 per ton in nine months, highlighting market instability.
Benchmark Minerals forecasts 219% lithium demand growth over the next decade.
PLS cleared over $500 million cash operating margin in the June quarter alone.
FY27 production guidance raised to 1.1 million tons, a further step up.
P2000 expansion named Jimagana; next study due December quarter.

Numbers and commitments

Figure	What it refers to	Type	At
$600 per ton	Lithium price low observed within the past year	metric	0:43
$2,400 per ton	Lithium price high observed within the past year	metric	0:43
219%	Benchmark Minerals forecast for lithium demand growth over next decade	guidance	4:12
$2.3 billion	Cash balance at end of June	metric	3:44
$2.8 billion	Total liquidity at end of June	metric	3:44
$500 million	Cash operating margin for June quarter	metric	11:24
$3.1 billion	Capital distributed over FY23 to FY25	commitment	12:46
$1.9 billion	Capital reinvested into base operations for P680 and P1000 projects	commitment	12:46
1.1 million tons	FY27 production guidance	guidance	13:45
$600 million	Bond raised this year	commitment	19:06

Chapters

0:00Introduction and market volatility
2:50Company strategy and financial strength
4:12Demand growth and new use cases
6:46Supply chain concentration and reliability
10:32June quarter highlights and record results
12:46Capital deployment history
13:45Production performance and FY27 guidance
15:05P2000 expansion and Jimagana announcement
17:57Chemicals and Kina project progress
19:06Industry outlook and reliability framework

Tim 0:00 ↗

Our first speaker is Dale Henderson, the managing director and CEO of Pilbara Minerals. He joined the business in 2017 as chief operating officer and became managing director and CEO in 2022. During that time, he's overseen a significant project development and established Pilgurra as the biggest hard rock lithium miner in the world. Please welcome Dale to the stage.

1 more exchange in this transcript

Cite this transcript

APA, MLA, BibTeX

APA

Henderson, D. (2026, August 4). PLS Diggers and Dealers 2026 Presentation [Interview transcript]. PLS. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/3038185/

MLA

Dale Henderson. "PLS Diggers and Dealers 2026 Presentation." PLS, 4 Aug. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/3038185/.

BibTeX

@misc{henderson2026_3038185,
  author       = {Dale Henderson},
  title        = {PLS Diggers and Dealers 2026 Presentation},
  howpublished = {Interview transcript, PLS. CEOInterviews.AI},
  year         = {2026},
  month        = {aug},
  url          = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/3038185/},
  note         = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}

▶

Key Quotes (2)

“The lithium industry, well it's never a dull moment and this past year has certainly been the case again. Within the year we've seen lows of $600 per ton, nine months later, $2,400 per ton. And outside of that, we've seen an industry evolving rampantly. So it's an incredibly exciting industry. There's a whole bunch of new technology emerging as a function of lithium batteries. Amazing industry, bu”

▶ 0:43 POLICY

“What you see here in the back is that green backdrop that mountain landscape is the pricing curve for lithium. And there's been a 100% lift care on benchmark minerals long run price expectations moving from 1,200 US per ton to more than 2,400 US per ton in just over a year. So they are expecting 2,400 to be the long run price for the industry. What we think's behind that of course is not only the ”

▶ 8:23 POLICY

Mentioned in this interview

Pilgurra: Core hard rock lithium asset in WA, 31-year mine life, 100% owned.

Kina: Brazilian asset, 100% owned, with ongoing drilling and studies.

Benchmark Minerals: Analyst firm forecasting 219% demand growth over next decade.

INCAT: Manufactured 2,000-person lithium battery ferry, headed to Uruguay.

POSCO None-Posco: Joint venture partner in chemicals, South Korea.

Ganfeng: Joint venture partner in chemicals, potential further collaboration.

CANMAX: Offtake with price floor, no ceiling, and $100 million prepaid.

Earlier, on the same topics

“This is the slide I want you to remember because it captures the central tension defining this moment for the lithium industry. The very top line is the long-run expectations for the average price for the industry care of benchmark. The two lower lateral lines are the headline pricing for lithium ch”

Aug 05, 2025 at 6:32 →

“As per the AGM presentation, what I sought to do was use the historic supply demand balance as an explanation of the outsize volatility we've seen in pricing. So as you mentioned, that last rapid rise where pricing more than quadrupled the previous highs was all care of a very small imbalance, and t”

Jan 07, 2025 at 41:42 →

“The scarce resource today is what I call the investable lithium ton, which is the ton that can firstly attract the capital, the ton that can be built, the ton that can survive the inevitable cycle, and the ton that is integrated into a chemical supply chain solution, and ultimately, the ton that can”

Jun 23, 2026 at 7:09 →

“The lithium market pricing has been volatile and it's incredibly hard to predict. But what gives us confidence is the long game. It's this mismatch of very strong demand drivers. Meanwhile, supply is not keeping pace. So we envisage a structural deficit emerges and that's going to bode really well f”

Feb 18, 2026 at 7:18 →

Every Dale Henderson interview →

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All Dale Henderson transcripts →

About Dale Henderson

Dale Henderson, Managing Director and CEO of PLS, presented the company’s FY26 full-year results in August 2026 and led a P2000 project webcast in October 2026. In the FY26 results, he reported record annual production of approximately 880,000 tons, a 152% increase in revenue, and a 9% reduction in unit operating costs, with the company ending the year with $2.3 billion in cash. He also noted the restart of the Ngungaju processing plant, approval of approximately $175 million in pre-FID expenditure for the P1000 project, and ongoing advancement of the Kalina project in Brazil, with study updates expected in the December quarter of the following year. During the P2000 webcast, Henderson discussed the project’s final investment decision and cost estimates, stating that the $620 cost figure sat at the lower end of the previously guided range when adjusted for inflation. He attributed the difficulty of like-for-like comparisons to changes in mining and processing configuration, while noting that the feasibility studies unlock additional ore supporting higher production over a longer mine life. He also addressed questions on Brazil, reiterating that the next study update is due in the December quarter of the following year, and mentioned potential pre-FID funding for enabling works. Across both appearances, Henderson emphasized the long-term fundamentals of lithium demand, citing falling battery costs, rising electric vehicle penetration, and growth in energy storage, while acknowledging that market volatility is structural due to the capital-intensive and cyclical nature of supply.

All Dale Henderson appearances → PLS on YouTube →