THE COUNT DOWN: Liontown crushes first ore at Kathleen Valley!, page-152

BELL POTTER reports 6 May 2024

Last week, LTR hosted a visit to its 100% owned Kathleen Valley lithium project in Western Australia, attended by around 25 buy-side, sell-side and banking participants. Aside from providing access to senior LTR management, key contractor representatives were also present (Byrnecut as underground mining contractor; Lycopodium for processing plant design; and Zenith Energy for power supply).

Key takeaways were that LTR’s mid-2024 production target remains on schedule:
• Open pit mining is de-risking the underground ramp-up and availability of ore feed for the processing plant;
• Underground mining is progressing apace with ground conditions and rates of advancement as expected; and
• The processing plant is nearing completion with commissioning of the dry plant underway and completion of the flotation circuit and ancillary infrastructure expected by mid-2024.

OPEN PIT DE-RISKS UNDERGROUND RAMP-UP; SUFFICENT FEED FOR PLANT Mining of the North-West Flats orebody at the Kathleen’s Corner open pit is expected to produce 3Mt ore by completion of the pit at the end of 2025. There is currently 160kt ROM ore stockpiled. By processing plant start-up (expected in July 2024), around 300kt is expected to be stockpiled from the open pit and ore sorted material. Recent mining rates have been around 30kt/month and will jump to +500kt/month when the thick sections of the flat-lying orebody are reached in the September 2024 quarter. Open pit mining commenced at Kathleen Valley in January 2023. At full 3Mtpa ore throughput capacity, the processing plant require feed of 250kt/month on average. LTR is also ore-sorting mineralised waste previously designated as DSO material. Ore sorting has successfully upgraded this waste to plant feed through rejection of **bro while maintaining high (~90%) lithium recoveries. Learnings from the ore-sorting trials have the potential to support longer-term investments in waste-upgrading capacity and plant throughput expansions.

UNDERGROUND OPERATIONS ARE PROGRESSING AS SCHEDULED
Mining contractor Byrnecut have two jumbos operating at the Mt Mann underground and one at North-West Flats. Mt Mann will be the initial focus with orebody orientation supporting lower cost mining. When sufficient headings are open, the three jumbos will operate at Mt Mann. Ground conditions and rates of advancement have transpired as expected. First development ore at Mt Mann is expected to be mined this August and first stopes fired at the end of the calendar year. Underground mining will ramp-up over late-2024, with 3Mtpa rates planned by mid-2026 as open pit feed falls away. Across both open pit and underground mining operations, LTR has a sharp focus on minimising mining dilution. Mining dilution has been a key impediment to several established Australian lithium operations in meeting design rates of processing plant recovery.

PROCESSING PLANT IN COMMISIONING; ON TRACK FOR MID-2024 START-UP As previously reported by LTR, the dry plant is currently in commissioning. ROM ore is being crushed and delivered to the Fine Ore Bin. Works to complete downstream components (SAG mill, flotation circuit etc) continue with expectation of completion for ramp-up from mid-2024. Power infrastructure is advanced, with four of five wind turbines installed; solar, battery capacity and gas/diesel generation are all operational. Other ancillary infrastructure is also on schedule.