Posted on 12 Dec 2024
Australian lithium producer Liontown announced Wednesday it has shipped the first cargo of spodumene concentrate from its Kathleen Valley lithium project in Western Australia to LG Energy Solution (LGES).
The shipment – the miner’s largest so far – totals around 33,000 wet metric tonnes (wmt) of spodumene concentrate with a weighted average concentrate grade of 5.2% lithium oxide. Of this, 11,000 wmt are designated for the South Korean battery giant, while the remainder were sold to a short-term customer, Kallanish notes.
This is the fourth cargo shipment since Kathleen Valley commenced production in July, with the first concentrate shipped in late September.
In July, Liontown secured $250 million in funding and an extended offtake deal from LGES, extending an existing 5-year offtake agreement by an additional 10 years. Under the deal, Liontown will supply LGES with 700,000 t of spodumene concentrate over the first five years, followed by 1.5 million t in the next 10 years.
“Shipping our first cargo to LG Energy Solution marks the beginning of our long-term offtake partnership,” comments company ceo Tony Ottaviano. “We have now shipped one cargo per month since our first cargo in September, generating revenue and demonstrating continued progress on our ramp-up toward becoming a reliable, major supplier of lithium to the global market.”
The Australian developer initially targeted to produce 3m t/y from Kathleen by the first quarter of 2025, but last month trimmed the target to 2.8m t/y. The decision came as a bid to preserve cash amid the ongoing lithium market downturn.
Kathleen Valley’s other Tier-1 long-term offtake customers include EV makers Tesla and Ford, for which supply should start next year.
Source:Kallanish
