Liontown Resources (ASX:LTR) has dispatched the inaugural shipment of spodumene concentrate from its Kathleen Valley Lithium Project in Western Australia.
The shipment comprised 11,855 wet metric tonnes of spodumene concentrate, with a weighted average concentrate grade of 5.2% lithium oxide. It departed from the Port of Geraldton on Friday (27 September) and is currently enroute to an existing offtake customer in China.
Shares have moved up 5.7% on the back of the news, to $0.83 as of 11.20am AEST.
Liontown, which has a market capitalisation of $1.9 billion, says the first shipment is a pivotal milestone for the company as a lithium producer, and marks the beginning of generating revenue from the Kathleen Valley operations.
CEO Tony Ottaviano says the company is continuing to ramp up progress towards steady-state production. Since production began, Liontown has produced more than 28,000 wet metric tonnes of concentrate.
Liontown will allocate production to sell in the spot market, with an initial spot sale of 10,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate to a Singapore-based trader achieving a reference price at a premium to spot of US$802 ($1,160) per dry metric tonne.
The shipment is scheduled for early in Q4 2024.
Ottaviano adds that over the past six years, the company has focused on developing and constructing a “world-class” tier one lithium operation.
“Now we announce the beginning of generating revenue and cashflow, as we see our plans come to fruition,” Ottaviano says.
“Within two months of first production at Kathleen Valley, we have not only successfully produced and now shipped concentrate, with a weighted average lithium oxide of 5.2%, but we have also achieved a sale on the spot market, realising a premium sales price in the current market conditions, and demonstrating the consistent demand for high-grade battery products.”
According to Trading Economics, lithium’s spot price has decreased 23.83% since the beginning of this year — sitting at $4,744 per tonne.
In parallel with the spot and ramp up tonnes sales, Liontown will begin fulfilling its strategic offtake agreements with LGES, Tesla, and Ford.
The Kathleen Valley Project is considered among the most “significant” long-life projects in the world. The project lies 680km north-east of Perth, Western Australia.
Liontown Resources is a battery minerals provider with ‘tier one’ assets.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Liontown Resources
