The short sellers that flocked towards lithium exporter Galaxy Resources in recent months found vindication on Monday, when surprisingly poor production and unit cost results sparked a further slump in the miner's share price.

The 43,852 tonnes of lithium-rich spodumene concentrate produced in the three months to March 31 was well below the output seen in each of the previous two quarters, and put the company behind the pace required to achieve its goal of producing more than 200,000 tonnes of concentrate in 2018.