Liontown Resources Ltd (ASX: LTR) shares are pushing higher on Monday.
In morning trade, the lithium developer's shares are up almost 5% to $1.01.
This follows the release of the company's quarterly update before the market open.
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Liontown shares storm higher on quarterly update
It was a very busy quarter for Liontown, with the company rapidly approaching the commencement of production at the Kathleen Valley Lithium Project in Western Australia.
According to the release, the project was over 95% complete overall on an earned value basis by the end of June 2024. Process plant critical path items were completed and commissioning advanced to schedule.
A total of 3.8 million work hours were spent on the project with a total recordable injury frequency rate (TRIFR) of 5.99.
It also notes that significant progress was achieved in underground mining for the quarter, with 1,596 total development metres recorded. This brings the total development metres to ~3,500 since the commencement of underground mining in November.
Pleasingly, metres advanced and ground conditions remain on budget and in-line with expectations.
Another positive is that Kathleen's Corner open pit mining progressed with 1.3 million bulk cubic metres (BCM) mined. This contributed 216,000 tonnes of clean ore stockpiled ahead of initial production.
And importantly, mining is on schedule to access the primary ore zone in the September 2024 quarter, which is consistent with the production schedule. By quarter end, Liontown advised that a total of 311 employees had been onboarded. This ensures readiness for the impending start of operations.
At the end of the quarter, the company had a cash balance of $122.9 million. It has since signed a strategic partnership to deliver long-term funding.
'A major milestone'
Liontown's managing director, Tony Ottaviano, was pleased with the quarter. He said:
Following another huge effort from our Project team and contractors, we finished the June quarter on the cusp of completing the development required for first production at Kathleen Valley.
A major milestone reached post-quarter was the signing of the US$250 million convertible note agreement with LG Energy Solution. The agreement, which came with a commitment to supply LG Energy Solution with additional offtake and an undertaking to work together on a downstream refinery, provides the balance sheet capacity to fund the Kathleen Valley ramp-up to 3Mtpa as well as early underground works to preserve the 4Mtpa expansion option on a 2027 timeframe.
In the meantime, we remain focused on achieving first production, ramp-up and solidifying Liontown's position as a major new producer and supplier of lithium raw materials.
Liontown shares remain down 62% since this time last year.
