Liontown Resources has revised its Kathleen Valley lithium project production plans for the second half of the 2024–25 financial year (H2 FY25).
Kathleen Valley, located around 60km north on Leinster in Western Australia, celebrated its first shipment of spodumene concentrate at the end of September.
Now, the company has said it needs to reset its production baseline and mine plans in order to adapt to softened lithium prices.
This will see up to $100 million in cost reductions and the option for future expansion preserved for when market conditions improve.
Liontown is now expecting operating costs of $775–855 per dry metric tonne of spodumene concentrate in H2 FY25.
The revised mine plan is designed to deliver a 2.8-million-tonne-per-annum production rate by the end of FY27 with a focus on high margin tonnes and expected reduction in development and fixed costs.
“When market conditions change, companies need to quickly adapt to meet the market,” Liontown managing director and chief executive officer Tony Ottaviano said.
“Through the business optimisation work done by our team, the revised mine plan and guidance demonstrates our responsiveness to the low-price environment.
“Our decision to mine underground affords Liontown the flexibility to target high margin areas of our Tier 1 resource and scale our operations to meet the market, including preserving the ability to pursue expansion when the market recovers.
“Our goal is to ensure long-term value for our shareholders by leveraging the quality of our assets to meet strong long-term demand for lithium.”
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