Liontown Resources has produced first spodumene concentrate at its Kathleen Valley mine in Western Australia, following the commissioning of the wet plant and end-to-end operation of the Kathleen Valley value chain.
“Two and a half years ago, we set ourselves the ambitious goal of achieving first production by mid-2024. Today, we have achieved it,” said Managing Director and CEO Tony Ottaviano.
“This is a monumental moment for Liontown and marks our transition from a construction project to a producer of high-quality lithium concentrate.”
Liontown said there were already 216,000 tonnes of clean ore mined to date from the Kathleen’s Corner and Mt Mann open pits. The primary ore zone in Kathleen’s Corner is scheduled to be mined starting in late August.
The producer will now focus on completing the remaining commissioning activities in the non-critical path areas of the plant and critical underground infrastructure. Full nameplate production of 3 million tonnes per annum is expected by the end of Q1 2025 with lithium recoveries expected to be optimised over the next 12-to-18-month period.
Source: Liontown Resources