Key Highlights

  • Pursuit Minerals recorded a peak of 995mg/L Li from 444.2m to 445.0m in DDH-3 at Rio Grande Sur, about 23% above its previous best.
  • PLS signed a 20-year agreement with a Fortescue subsidiary for a committed minimum of 325 GWh a year at Pilgangoora, with P2000 unit costs expected to fall $15-20/t.
  • Talga executed a binding term sheet with Dainen Materials reserving up to 2,000 tpa of Talnode-C over five years from late 2027.
  • The PLS connection is estimated at about $150M of capital expenditure, while Talga and Dainen aim to sign a Master Supply Agreement by March 2027.

Three ASX-listed battery materials companies released separate updates on 28 October 2026. Pursuit Minerals Limited (ASX:PUR) reported final lithium brine assays from its Mito tenement in Argentina, PLS Group Limited (ASX:PLS) signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with Fortescue Ltd for its Pilgangoora Operation, and Talga Group Ltd (ASX:TLG) executed a binding offtake term sheet with Japan's Dainen Materials for graphite anode material.

Pursuit Minerals: 995mg/L Lithium at Mito

Drillhole 3 at the Mito tenement, in the northern part of the Rio Grande Sur Lithium Project in Salta Province, reached a final depth of approximately 560m and finished in lithium-bearing mineralisation. Its peak brine assay of 995mg/L Li, from 444.2m to 445.0m, is the highest Pursuit has recorded at the project and about 23% above the earlier 809mg/L Li result. Other results included 964mg/L Li from 461.2m, 943mg/L Li from 480.2m and 922mg/L Li from 454.2m, so four samples exceeded 900mg/L Li and eight exceeded 800mg/L Li. A packer testing program collected samples from selected intervals, and the high-grade results sit between roughly 400m and 510m. The project's current resource is 1.264Mt of lithium carbonate equivalent at 424mg/L Li, made up of 705kt Indicated and 559kt Inferred.

PLS Group: Fortescue Power for Pilgangoora

The agreement between Pilgangoora Operations Pty Ltd and FMG Clean Energy Pty Ltd provides a committed minimum of 325 GWh of electricity a year, with supply targeted to begin in calendar year 2029. A new transmission line of about 25km will link the site to Fortescue's Turner River solar farm and 220kV substation, with PLS funding and owning about 20km of it. The connection is sized above 100 MW.

PLS expects previously quoted P2000 unit operating costs (FOB) to fall by approximately $15-20/t. Connection and power infrastructure spending is estimated at about $150M, phased at $20M in FY27, $85M in FY28 and $45M in FY29. Power-related emissions intensity is forecast to fall by up to about 80%, from 0.69 to about 0.13 tCO2-e/MWh, within the original FY30 timeframe. The agreement is subject to conditions precedent, including a related construction agreement, and supply under it is not firm. Stage 1 of the power strategy, completed in FY25, has already delivered about a 20% reduction in emissions intensity against the FY23 baseline.

Talga Group: Binding Offtake With Dainen

Talga's term sheet with Dainen Materials follows a letter of intent dated 16 July 2026 and testing of Talnode-C against specifications set by Dainen's Japanese battery customers. It reserves up to 2,000 tpa of Talnode-C capacity from Sweden for Dainen or its customers over five years from an expected delivery start in late 2027, with extension rights. Dainen, established in 2017, supplies anode active materials to automotive, energy storage and electronics manufacturers in Japan.

Pricing is tied to a negotiated floor plus a FEOC-free, ESG and traceability premium, quoted in US dollars ex-works. Both parties are bound to use commercially reasonable efforts to sign a definitive Master Supply Agreement by March 2027, and final purchase volumes will be confirmed in that document.

What the Three Announcements Record

Each release set out a different kind of milestone on the same day. Pursuit reported drilling data from a hole that ended in mineralisation at about 560m, PLS recorded a contract with a minimum supply volume and a $150M connection budget, and Talga documented a binding capacity reservation of up to 2,000 tpa with a March 2027 date for the definitive supply contract. Pursuit's figures are laboratory assays, PLS's cost and emissions figures are forecasts, and Talga's volumes remain to be confirmed in the definitive contract. Lithium features in the work of Pursuit and PLS, while Talga's agreement concerns natural graphite anode material.