Liontown Resources’ Spodumene Auction Attracts Nine Countries

Liontown Resources (ASX:LTR,OTC Pink:LINRF) held its first digital spot sales auction for 10,000 wet metric tonnes of spodumene concentrate from its Kathleen Valley lithium operation in Western Australia.

The auction, which attracted over 50 buyers from nine countries, was conducted on Metalshub, a software platform for metals, mining and recycling that was founded in 2016. Set for shipment in 2026, the auctioned concentrate was secured for a winning bid of US$1,254 per dry metric tonne for SC6.0-equivalent product.

“This is an outstanding result and a clear validation of our strategy," said Managing Director and CEO Tony Ottaviano.

"We believe a transparent, tangible and auditable digital auction would strengthen price discovery for spodumene concentrate. Today's outcome demonstrates the market is improving and buyers have the confidence to engage competitively when given a fair and open platform," he added.

Located about 60 kilometres north of Leinster and 680 kilometres northeast of Perth, Kathleen Valley has as a resource estimate of 155 million tonnes at 1.3 percent lithium oxide and 131 parts per million tantalum pentoxide.

According to Liontown’s website, work commenced at Kathleen Valley in 2017, following construction in 2022. First spodumene production happened in 2024. In its September quarterly report, the company provided an update on Kathleen Valley, saying that the open pit is nearing completion and underground production is scaling.

“We’re entering the next phase at Kathleen Valley," Ottaviano explained at the time.

"As cleaner underground ore increasingly feeds the mill, recoveries will improve and we remain on track to meet our 70 percent lithia recovery target by the end of the third quarter of 2026.”

Liontown stated that it intends to hold additional online auctions on the Metalshub platform through 2026 and beyond. However, details of future business-as-usual auctions will not be released.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Gabrielle de la Cruz, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.