Liontown Resources has awarded an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to GR Engineering Services (GRES) for the Kathleen Valley lithium project.
Under the contract, valued at around $71m, GRES will deliver and commission the paste plant facility (paste plant) to support the underground mining operations at the project.
The proposed paste plant will comprise two trains that can produce up to 160m3 of paste per hour and is designed to support future expansion of mining operations to 4Mtpa.
It also facilitates dry stacking and water recovery, further enhancing the amount of recycled water used by the site.
Liontown managing director and CEO Tony Ottaviano said: “We are pleased to award the contract for the design and construction of the Paste Plant which will support and further de-risk the planned underground production rates at Kathleen Valley.
“GRES has designed and constructed multiple paste plant facilities throughout Western Australia and the GRES team has mobilised and commenced initial works at Kathleen Valley.”
The Kathleen Valley is a significant Tier-1 battery metals asset located in a premier mining jurisdiction around 60km north of Leinster and 680km north-east of Perth, Western Australia.
The scope of the project includes two paste plants which will produce paste fill for use in Liontown’s underground operations.
The delivery of cemented paste fill is a crucial part of the underground mining cycle at Kathleen Valley, for enhanced recovery of the underground orebody and planned production rates.
Also, it reduces the size of the surface tailings dam that would otherwise be required.
The second train will provide latent capacity to de-risk underground mining operations, enable water recovery and limit cost economies for the construction of two trains together.
The EPC is part of a planned and budgeted next stage of growth capital costs post-first production and is funded under the recently announced A$550m financing facility.
GRES have progressed the design, procurement and initial site works under an early works agreement to ensure timely delivery of the Paste Plant.
GR Engineering managing director Tony Patrizi said: “We are pleased to have been engaged by Liontown to play an important role in the delivery of the world-class Kathleen Valley lithium project.
“We see this contract award as a strong endorsement of GR Engineering’s proven process design record and EPC delivery capability. We look forward to continue working with the Liontown team on the successful and safe delivery of this project.”
