The Liontown Resources Limited (ASX: LTR) share price rose today. The positive price movement comes as the ASX lithium miner gave an update on operations at its Western Australia mining site.
At market close, shares in the company were trading for 45.5 cents each – up 1.11%. By comparison, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) closed up 1.02%.
Let's take a closer look at Liontown's update.
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Liontown share price up on lithium update
In a statement to the ASX, Liontown says it has identified a number of additional project improvements for its Kathleen Valley Lithium Project in WA.
The improvements in question include an upgrade in the categorisation of minerals, sustaining capital savings, and "simplification of the process flowsheet…"
The company has also conducted a feasibility study at the site. Parts of the study include:
- A review of environmental policies and their application at the site, including impacts on Traditional owners, minimising land and water usage, and lowering its carbon footprint.
- A mineral resource estimate update.
- Geotechnical modelling for improved economic results.
- Process flowsheet enhancements.
- "Detailed" metallurgic test work with a focus on greater ore processes
- Successful hydrological drilling.
So far, the company believes there is a total lithium output of 156 million tonnes at the site, which bodes well for the Liontown share price as the price of lithium continues to increase. As of writing, lithium is trading on the commodities market for a 52-week high of US$90,000 a tonne.
ASX lithium stocks in general have been doing tremendously well over the last year. One such reason is because of the ever-increasing demand for electric vehicles – of which lithium is a core component.
Management commentary
Liontown Managing Director, David Richards, says the progress outlined today will put Kathleen Valley into the forefront of lithium projects.
We are continuing to see excellent progress, with ongoing work reinforcing Kathleen Valley's attributes as a high-grade, large-scale, long-life lithium project in a Tier-1 location.
Kathleen Valley is ideally placed to be a key player in the global energy transformation, which is gaining momentum as major auto-makers and players in the lithium-ion battery supply chain continue to ramp-up their commitments to help reduce the global carbon footprint.
Liontown share price snapshot
Like other ASX lithium miners, the Liontown share price has gone gangbusters over the last year. If an investor bought in the company 12 months ago today, they would be sitting on a tidy 505.26% return on investment.
On current prices, Liontown Resources has a market capitalisation of $834.5 million.
