Key Highlights

  • IGO agreed to sell Nova to Global Lithium Resources for A$7 million, and the sale became unconditional after an ACCC notification waiver on 23 September 2026.
  • FY26 statutory net profit after tax was A$145.3 million, and a 5.0 cent fully franked final dividend was declared.
  • The September 2026 quarterly report is scheduled for 29 October 2026.

IGO Limited (ASX:IGO) has agreed to sell its Nova nickel operation to Global Lithium Resources for A$7 million, a transaction that became unconditional once the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission granted a notification waiver on 23 September 2026. The sale completes a shift that leaves lithium as the company's only producing exposure. It follows a result for the financial year ended 30 June 2026 in which IGO returned to statutory profit and resumed a fully franked dividend after a year without one.

What the company actually does

IGO Limited is a Western Australian mining company whose principal asset is a 49 per cent interest in Tianqi Lithium Energy Australia, the joint venture that in turn holds a 51 per cent stake in the Greenbushes lithium mine and owns the Kwinana lithium hydroxide refinery. That structure gives IGO an economic interest of roughly 25 per cent in Greenbushes, the hard-rock spodumene operation in the south west of the state. The company also operates the Nova nickel-copper-cobalt mine near Norseman, now in its final year of mining, and retains exploration interests weighted towards copper and lithium.

Latest verified developments

Global Lithium Resources is acquiring the whole of the issued capital of IGO Nova Pty Ltd from IGO Nova Holdings Pty Ltd. Completion is expected within ten business days of the earliest of three triggers: mining and processing ceasing with the final product shipment leaving the Port of Esperance, a longstop date of 30 November 2026 that the vendor may extend to 15 December 2026, or another date the parties agree. IGO released its FY26 results on 27 August 2026 and declared a final dividend of 5.0 cents per share, fully franked, with a record date of 10 September 2026 and payment on 30 September 2026.

Financial and operational evidence

For the financial year ended 30 June 2026 IGO reported revenue of A$462.9 million, down from the prior year, and a statutory net profit after tax of A$145.3 million against a statutory loss of A$955 million in FY25. Underlying EBITDA was A$286 million, reversing a negative A$43 million. The swing was driven by IGO's share of net profit from the Tianqi joint venture of A$207.3 million, compared with a A$642 million loss a year earlier. Greenbushes produced 1,410 thousand tonnes of spodumene concentrate in FY26 and sold 1,368 thousand tonnes at an average realised price of US$1,443 a tonne, at cash costs of A$415 a tonne.

Risks and pressure points

The Kwinana refinery remains the clearest pressure point. Construction of its second train was suspended in January 2025, the asset was fully impaired at 30 June 2025, and the plant produced 8,839 tonnes of lithium hydroxide across FY26 while recording an EBITDA loss of A$88.4 million on a hundred per cent basis in the June quarter alone. With mining at Nova ending in the December 2026 quarter, IGO's earnings become almost entirely dependent on an equity-accounted interest in a single lithium joint venture it does not control. No interim dividend was declared in FY26, so the distribution pattern remains uneven, and the company remains exposed to spodumene pricing.

Milestones to watch

The September 2026 quarterly activities report is scheduled for release on 29 October 2026, with an investor webcast the same day. Completion of the Nova divestment is tied to the final shipment from the Port of Esperance and to the 30 November 2026 longstop. Investors may be watching the ramp-up of the third Greenbushes processing plant towards its nameplate capacity. The annual general meeting, convened by a notice lodged on 16 October 2026, is the other scheduled near term event.