Pilbara Minerals acquired the Ngungaju lithium project, previously called Pilgangoora, from Altura in January.

Its board has approved a "staged restart" of the facility located near Port Hedland.

The plant, with a nameplate capacity of 206,000t per annum, has been in care and maintenance since Altura went into administration late last year.

Combined with the rest of the Pilgangoora project, Pilbara Minerals expects to produce between 560,000 to 580,000tpa of 6% lithium concentrate. 

Pilbara Minerals hopes to reach full processing capacity by the middle of next calendar year. 

It is expected to cost $40 million to restart the facility, including plant modifications, and that will come from existing cash reserves.

Pilbara Minerals managing director Ken Brinsden said while costs would be higher over the next 12 months due to the plant recommissioning along with increased mining operations, the payoff would be worth it.

"The well-timed acquisition of the Altura lithium operations provides Pilbara Minerals with available spodumene concentrate at the same time the market is expected to grow rapidly to deal with the mass global adoption of lithium-ion battery technology," Brinsden said.

Pilbara Minerals expects this quarters' shipments from its existing spodumene operations to reach a record high of 96,000t - well above previous guidance of 75,000t.

This will equate to sales of 109,000t for the quarter due a shipment meant for March being pushed back into April. 

Pilbara Minerals has also launched its Battery Minerals Exchange - a platform it will use to auction its produced spodumene.

The BMX platform allows customers to access current and future unallocated spodumene concentrate produced from the Pilgangoora facility.

While it is early days for the BMX auction platform, Pilbara Minerals is bullish it will eventually be able to sell multiple cargos of concentrate in a single auction, creating a spot market to replace physical contracts.

"The combination of unallocated spodumene offtake, burgeoning demand and a sophisticated sales channel in the BMX platform makes for a potent combination at Pilgangoora," Brinsden said.

It has been a busy 12 months for the company, which expects to finalise a downstream processing joint venture agreement with POSCO in South Korea next month.