Liontown awards final major $100m contract

Takeover target Liontown Resources has awarded its final major construction contract for its Kathleen Valley lithium project after engaging Monadelphous Group to undertake $100 million worth of work.

The lithium aspirant’s managing director Tony Ottaviano said there was a “clear line of sight” to first spodumene production mid-next year following the contract award.

But the market is still waiting to hear whether the last major $1 billion contract award to Byrnecut for underground mining services has stretched the project’s last reported $895 million budget.

Liontown is also the subject of a $6.6 billion takeover proposal by Albemarle Corporation, with the pair striking a non-disclosure and exclusivity agreement earlier this week. 

Monadelphous today confrimed it had secured the wet plant structural, mechanical, piping and also the electrical and instrumentation contract for the project in the northern Goldfields.

According to Liontown, the wet plant has been designed using hard-wearing materials to reduce future maintenance requirements.

Monadelphous commenced early work at the lithium project in August and will complete the $100 million worth of work over the next nine months.

Mr Ottaviano said he was pleased to announce the award of the SMP and E&I contracts to tier-1 contractor Monadelphous.

“Valued at approximately $100 million this marks the final contraction contract to be awarded for Kathleen Valley,” he said.

“The vertically integrated approach of combing the SMP and E&I packages enables Monadelphous to efficiently deliver both programs of work to a very high standard and played a large part in its successful tender.”

Monadelphous managing director Zoran Bebic said the contract awarded extended the company’s portfolio of construction work secured for the financial year.

“We are extremely pleased to have been awarded this significant contract in the growing energy transition metals sector, and look forward to continuing to develop our relationship with Liontown Resources,” he said.

It comes after the engineering firm secured a $160 million contract from Talison Lithium to install a crushing and screening facility and lithium concentrate processing plant at its Greenbushes lithium asset.