Perth-based lithium developer Liontown Resources is aiming to join the ranks of Western Australia's (WA) lithium-tantalum producers early in the next decade.
A completed scoping study supports the case for an initial nine-year mine life operation at its Kathleen Valley project 680km northeast of Perth, producing 360,000 t/yr of spodumene concentrate from 2mn t/yr of ore.
With a mineral resource of 21.2mn t grading 1.4pc lithium oxide and 170 parts per million tantalum oxide, Kathleen Valley is a second-tier project with potential for expansion. A new drilling campaign starting in early February aims to test the immediate extensions of the current resource to find another 8mn-16mn t of material.
Utilising its existing resource, the project is expected to cost around A$232mn ($167mn) to develop and have an operating cost of $376/t, falling to $308/t after tantalum credits. This ranks Kathleen Valley as similar in size and cost to the first stages of projects brought into production by Pilbara Minerals and Altura Mining in October last year. The payback period is estimated at three years with a price of $650/t for lithium concentrate grading 5.6pc lithium oxide and a price of $71/lb for tantalum concentrate grading 30pc oxide.
Although the scoping study has confirmed the project's potential to be a viable standalone mining and processing operation capable of producing saleable concentrate with low iron content, a definitive feasibility study will need to be completed in early 2020 before financing and construction can be undertaken.
Discussions with potential offtake partners are underway. All of WA's lithium projects finalise offtake arrangements as a pre-requisite for the production phase.
"Kathleen Valley will be positioned to take advantage of what is widely anticipated to be a rapid expansion of the global lithium-ion supply chain in the next decade as the electrification of the world's transport fleet really begins to gather momentum," managing director David Richards said.
Liontown is also developing the Buldania lithium project in WA and the Toolebuc vanadium project in Queensland.
