Liontown Resources has released its full-year financial results, with the company more than doubling the value of its assets by bringing the Kathleen Valley lithium project online.
Kathleen Valley, which was constructed over the 2023–24 financial year (FY24), grew the company’s total assets from $655.1 million at June 30 2023 to nearly $1.4 million a year later.
Arguably the biggest achievement for Liontown in FY24 was commencing operations at Kathleen Valley on schedule, which saw 3500m of underground development over the year and first ore produced on July 31.
“It has been a year of transformative growth and achievement,” Liontown managing director and chief executive officer Tony Ottaviano said.
“I am immensely proud of the team who have demonstrated great focus and resilience during this year.
“We have not only delivered on our commitments, but also built a company around our world class Kathleen Valley lithium project which sets the foundation for future continued success.”
Liontown’s interest-bearing loans and borrowings increased by $202.5 million during FY24, caused primarily by a $300 million debt facility with Ford which was fully drawn during the year.
Given the company was pre-revenue, Liontown reported a net loss after tax of $64.9 million for FY24, which included several ‘exceptional items’.
These items comprised transaction costs related to the withdrawn non-binding indicative proposal from Albemarle to acquire all the shares in Liontown, and borrowing costs that were expensed due to the cancellation of various debt facilities associated with Kathleen Valley.
Safety was a highlight for Liontown in FY24, with the company announcing a total recordable injury frequency rate of 5.99 and a lost time incident rate of 0.33.
Liontown also celebrated the construction and commissioning of a 95 megawatt hybrid power station to power Kathleen Valley.
The hybrid power station is expected to have the largest off-grid renewable capacity of any mining project in Australia.
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