Liontown shares gain after first production at Kathleen Valley
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The news: Liontown Resources shares climbed on the ASX after the battery minerals play announced first production at its Kathleen Valley lithium project.
The numbers: Liontown shares lifted 2.2% to $0.94 by 12:25pm AEST.
Perth-based Liontown said first spodumene concentrate production at Kathleen Valley marks the start of its production ramp-up towards 3 metric tonnes per year (Mtpa), currently expected by the end of Q1 CY25.
First shipments from the WA-based development are planned for later in Q3 CY24.
The context: Liontown said that the on-schedule delivery reinforces the company's position as an "emerging producer of high-quality, fully IRA-compliant, lithium raw materials".
It will now focus on completing the remaining commissioning activities in the non-critical path areas of the plant, concluding construction of critical underground infrastructure, and ramping up the process plant to 3Mtpa throughput.
What they said: Liontown's managing director and CEO Tony Ottaviano said: "Two and a half years ago, we set ourselves the ambitious goal of achieving first production by mid-2024. Today, we have achieved it".
"First production signals the start of our ramp-up towards 3Mtpa capacity and, in partnership with our tier-1 offtake customers, paves the way for us to pursue our long-term strategy to be a globally significant supplier of battery minerals as the world transitions to a low-carbon future," he said.
The source: ASX announcement
