Pilbara Minerals achieves outstanding share price appreciation as first production looms

Whilst the resource sector is seemingly full of stories of gloom-and-doom, smart investors are aware of the fact that there are a number of high-quality juniors getting on with the job of advancing projects and actually achieving share market re-ratings. Pilbara Minerals (ASX: PLS) is one such company that you've probably never heard of. The company has been around for a few years now and has painstakingly progressed exploration, appraisal and pre-production activity with respect to its Western Australian tantalum and lithium resource assets – with its share price having risen steadily from less than $0.01 a year ago to a recent two-year high around $0.155. The company continues to generate strong sharemarket support on the back of this progress and its looming transition to production status during Q3 2015. One of its key attractions is its low-risk geographical exposure to lithium, a major component in modern high-tech applications such as batteries and power storage. The company aims to fast-track development of its Pilgangoora lithium-tantalum project, supported by production and cash flow from its soon-to-be-commissioned Tabba Tabba tantalum project.