ENERGY MINERALS

Liontown's dragonfly starts to take shape

EARLY construction works are underway at Liontown Resources' A$545 million Kathleen Valley lithium project in Leinster, Western Australia.

The first rooms installed at Kathleen Valley

The first rooms installed at Kathleen Valley

The company made a final investment decision on the major project in late June after securing and offtake agreement and A$300 funding facility from Ford.

Work has been allowed to kick off early due to a small operations permit.

A July 31 site visit to Kathleen Valley coincided with the installation of the first rooms in the 407-room accommodation village.

The unique village has been designed in the shape of a dragonfly in a nod to a Dreamtime story from nearby Jones Creek and as a nod to traditional owners the Tjiwarl People.

The village will also have CCTV, couple rooms and disability access.

During a pre-Diggers & Dealers site visit, Kathleen Valley general manager project development Kirit Chauhan said the village had been designed with the recent WA inquiry into sexual harassment in the mining industry in mind.

"Everything from how people get into the camp, how they get access to different areas through to how they get access to their room with a hotel-style swipe key has been taken into consideration and implemented upfront," he said.

"This is stuff that we just think will become par for the course, standard practice within a couple of years, so we may as well bite the bullet and do it now."

The first 80 rooms are expected to be available early in the December quarter.

Liontown ordered its long-lead items well before the final investment decision in order to keep the project on schedule.

Full construction is expected to begin in the December quarter.

First spodumene production remains on track for the June quarter of 2024.

Liontown won the Best Emerging Company Award at Diggers last week.

A growing series of reports, each focused on a key discussion point for the mining sector, brought to you by the Mining News Intelligence team.

A growing series of reports, each focused on a key discussion point for the mining sector, brought to you by the Mining News Intelligence team.

editions

Mining Journal Intelligence Project Pipeline Handbook 2024

View our 50 top mining projects, handpicked using a unique, objective selection process from a database of 450+ global assets.

editions

MiningNews.net Research Report 2024

Access a multi-pronged tool to identify critical risks and opportunities in Australia’s mining industry.

editions

Mining Journal Intelligence Investor Sentiment Report 2024

Survey revealing the plans, priorities, and preferences of 120+ mining investors and their expectations for the sector in 2024.

editions

Mining Journal Intelligence Mining Equities Report 2023

Access an exclusive, inside look on the quarterly mining IPOs and secondary raisings data and mining equities performance tables with an annual Stock Exchange Comparisons supplement.