Liontown Resources has farewelled the fourth and largest cargo of spodumene concentrate from its Kathleen Valley lithium project in Western Australia.
The cargo consisted of two separate Liontown cargoes, totalling approximately 33,000 wet metric tonnes (wmt) of spodumene concentrate with a weighted average concentrate grade of around 5.2 per cent lithium oxide.
The cargo was loaded onto MV Bunun Queen and sailed from the Port of Geraldton on December 11. It included about 11,000wmt for LG Energy Solution, a major lithium-ion battery supplier and Liontown’s foundational offtake customer. The remaining balance of the cargo will be sold to an existing short-term offtake customer.
Liontown said the milestone is aligned with its goal to progressively commence deliveries into its other long-term offtake agreements with companies such as Tesla and Ford.
“Shipping our first cargo to LG Energy Solution marks the beginning of our long-term offtake partnership,” Liontown managing director and chief executive officer Tony Ottaviano said.
“This (approximately) 33,000wmt shipment of spodumene concentrate is our largest to date, and I’m incredibly proud of our team’s hard work and dedication.
“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.”
LG Energy Solution invested $US250 million ($392 million) in Kathleen Valley in July.
The funding will support the production ramp up at Kathleen Valley to three million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) and early works necessary to preserve the potential 4Mtpa expansion case for the project.
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