Liontown Resources Ltd

Liontown Resources was founded in 2011 and for several years was just another small cap explorer.  Initially focused on gold exploration in Western Australia, the company shifted its focus to lithium exploration by 2014, and picked up Kathleen Valley project in 2016. The rest is history. The company’s shares have never looked back as it unveiled the deposit, defined the resource, constructed the project and undertook first production in 2024, as well as securing the initial offtake agreements. The first shipment was made in December 2024. In the first fiscal year of production, it made $298m revenue and $55m underlying EBITDA, although it made a statutory loss of $193m due to depreciation and amortisation costs, especially those associated with its new processing plant. Total spodumene concentrate production for the year was approximately 295 kilotonnes dry metric tonnes (dmt), with sales of around 283 kilotonnes dmt at an average realised price in the mid-US$600s per tonne Despite commencing production, the last 3 years have been difficult for the company with falling lithium prices and rising inflation putting dents in investor confidence in the project. A proposed A$6.6bn buyout from Albemarle falling through also hit shareholder confidence, not to mention an upgrade in the amount of capital it had thought it needed.