Liontown Resources has reached an agreement with Olympio Metals to allow Liontown to farm into the Mulline and Mulwarrie lithium projects in the Eastern Goldfields of WA.
As part of the stage-one minimum commitment, Liontown will complete 1100 soil samples across the projects over the next four months. After that, Liontown has the option to earn-in, committing $400,000 to exploration in the projects and earning a 51 per cent interest, or withdrawing from the endeavour entirely.
“We are very pleased to partner with Liontown, a well led company that has significant lithium discovery and development experience,” Olympio managing director Sean Delaney said.
“With Liontown’s Kathleen Valley mine under construction, they recognise the importance of the discovery of further lithium deposits.
“The Mulwarrie and Mulline projects contain a number of pegmatites that demonstrate the right geology but that have not been fully tested.
“Importantly, Olympio retains significant exposure to discovery success with the ability to contribute to funding and remain at 49 per cent once Liontown has completed the stage-one farm in.”
The Kathleen Valley project in WA is Liontown’s flagship lithium asset. The company projects a three million tonnes per annum throughput rate when production starts in mid-2024.
The project has attracted the attention of US chemical company Albemarle, which is currently attempting a takeover attempt of Liontown.
Albemarle submitted a non-bonding proposal to acquire all outstanding shares of Liontown for $5.2 billion.
After review, the board unanimously rejected the offer on the grounds that $5.2 billion undervalued the company, citing its Kathleen Valley project, about which the company said there are few other lithium assets of comparable “scale, quality and mine life”.
Since the rejection, Albemarle has been snapping up a stake in Liontown through on-market purchases and now holds just below five per cent in the company.