ASIC's daily reports through the lithium downturn, when the Pilgangoora producer carried the largest reported short position of any company on the Australian market.
Figures are the short interest as a percentage of units on issue, from ASIC data, 1010 points between 4 Jan 2022 and 31 Dec 2025.
PLS GROUP LTD, which operates the Pilgangoora lithium project in Western Australia, was barely shorted at the start of this window: 1.51% of its units on issue on 4 Jan 2022, falling to a low of 0.78% on 29 Aug 2022.
From early 2023 the reported position grew almost without interruption, reaching 22.50% on 8 Aug 2024. On that trade date no other company in ASIC's file carried a larger reported short position as a share of its own units on issue. It fell through the following eighteen months to 8.62% on 31 Dec 2025.
The position was built during a broad reversal in the lithium market. After two years of rapid expansion across the sector, supply moved ahead of demand during 2023 and 2024, and a number of Australian producers announced production cuts, deferred expansions or suspensions over that period. Several of the other large reported positions on the ASX at the time were also in lithium and battery-materials companies.
ASIC's daily file gives, for each quoted product, the total short positions reported to it by all short sellers as a percentage of total product in issue. Reporting obligations begin at A$100,000 or 0.01% of issued capital, so the Australian figure is far closer to a complete count than the 0.5% named registers used in Europe. ASIC publishes each trade date on the fourth business day after it, and notes that it cannot verify every individual report. We never recompute its percentages.
Full history and today's figure: PLS GROUP LTD.
Figures are as published by the ASIC; this site is not affiliated with it. The narrative describes what the published figures showed and widely reported public events around them; it is not a description of any company's prospects and is not investment advice.