Name of the Project                                    
Kathleen Valley lithium/tantalum project.

Location
North-east Goldfields of Western Australia.

Project Owner/s
Liontown Resources.

Project Description
A definitive feasibility study (DFS) has confirmed the potential to develop a state-of-the-art, second-generation lithium/tantalum mining and processing operation.

The DFS optimises the mine schedule, process plant design and forecast sales pricing to enhance the technical and financial viability of a standalone, long-life, four-million-tonne-a-year operation.

The project has an ore reserve of 68.5-million tonnes grading 1.34% lithium oxide and 120 parts per million tantalum pentoxide, underpinning an initial estimated 23-year mine life, based on the updated mining schedule.

Building on the October 2020 prefeasibility study (PFS), the DFS base production has been increased from two-million tonnes a year to 2.5-million tonnes a year, producing about 500 000 t/y of spodumene concentrate, with a four-million-tonne-a-year expansion planned in Year 6 to deliver about 700 000 t/y spodumene concentrate.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has an after-tax net present value (NPV), at a real 8% discount rate, of A$4.2-billion and an internal rate of return (IRR) of 57%, with a payback of 2.3 years.

Capital Expenditure
Initial project capital is estimated at A$437-million.

Planned Start/End Date
First production is expected to start in the first half of 2024.

Latest Developments
A final investment decision (FID) on the Kathleen Valley lithium project is expected by June this year.

“We've done our Native Title Agreement, the remaining permits are now being submitted to government and going through the processing that government departments have to do in order to sign off on these permits. And we're confident that we will get them the ones that we need to start construction before FID,” Liontown MD and CEO Tony Ottaviano said on April 7.

Ottaviano said that Liontown was working to finalise another offtake agreement for the Kathleen Valley operation, to supplement the ones already signed with Tesla and LG Energy Solutions to support funding for the FID.

Liontown is also progressing with a PFS on the downstream activities at Kathleen Valley.

A previously completed updated downstream scoping study at the Kathleen Valley project had confirmed the value of a staged-built, integrated mining, processing and refining operation based on the production of battery grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate (LHM) using spodumene feedstock from Kathleen Valley.

The scoping study had estimated a capital cost of A$2-billion for the spodumene plant and a three-train 90 000 t/y refinery, producing 29 000 t/y of LHM per train.

The downstream operation is estimated to have an after-tax NPV of A$9.6-billion and an IRR of 56%, and will generate free cash flows of A$32.4-billion over its 23-year operating life.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
ZOOID (environmental social governance); Optiro (geology and mineral resources estimate); Snowden Mining Industry Consultants (mine optimisation, planning, design and scheduling); ALS Metallurgy (process testwork); Lycopodium Minerals (process and infrastructure design, capital and operating expenditure); Knight Piésold (tailings and hydrogeology); MBS Environmental (environmental studies); Peter O’Bryan and Associates (geomechanical engineering); and Metso-Ouotec (design, fabrication and delivery of a SAG mill).

Contact Details for Project Information
Liontown Resources, tel +6 8 6186 4600 or email info@ltresources.com.au.