Liontown Cash Drops as Lithium Inches Up

Sandfire meets its numbers, Wildcats publishes PFS + Greatland marks for Aussie quarterly

July 29, 2025

The Pre-Start

  • Liontown produced 86kt of 5.2% Li2O spodumene concentrate and recoveries dipped to 57% as a higher proportion of unsorted material was processed. Cash fell $17m to $156m (LTR) stock down 3%, conference call at 9am Perth time

  • Vault shared its quarterly during trading yesterday, revealing 98koz of production at an AISC of $2,657/oz. FY25 saw it do 381koz at $2,422/oz. Cash and bullion increased $61m to $686m, with FY26 guidance to be issued this quarter (VAU)

  • Ramelius produced 73koz at $1,339/oz, growing cash and gold by $153m. FY25 production exceeded guidance. FY26 and a 5-year production/AISC guidance to be given in the Dec quarter (RMS)

  • Sandfire produced 41.5kt of CuEq (FY25 total 152kt), leading to a net debt improvement of US$120m over the quarter (closing at US$123m). FY26 guided to 149-165kt CuEq (SFR)

  • Greatland produced 74koz Au & 3.7kt Cu at $1,736/oz, building cash by $176m following its $62m raising. FY26 guidance was marginally softer than expectations at 260-310koz at an AISC of ~$2,600/oz + $245m in growth capex (GGP)

  • Ora Banda closed with $84m, up $3.5m on last quarter, after producing 22koz at $3,583/oz. It spent $41m on capital, resource development & exploration (OBM)

  • Wildcat shared a PFS for Tabba Tabba, underscored by a $1.19B NPV8 and 22.9% IRR. Pre-production capex totalled $687m for a 2.2Mtpa Stage 1 plant, which’ll produce 295ktpa (SC5.5), upsized to 565ktpa for stage 2 (WC8)

  • Capricorn has received regulatory approvals to expand Karlawinda to 6.5Mtpa, producing 150kozpa (CMM), along with a quarterly exploration update (CMM)

  • Resolute produced 76koz at US$1,668/oz, growing cash by US$10m (US$85m in operational cashflow). It remains on track to meet guidance (RSG)

  • Monadelphous has secured $110m in new contracts, including work with Rio (MND)

  • RDG has entered voluntary administration, with Lucky Bay operations to continue, with secured creditor MinRes offering funding to continue trade (RDG, MIN)

  • Saturn has issued a clarification in relation to the Fin’s article on the company, talking down in-situ value and financial metrics (STN, AFR)

  • Perenti reported that MMG Dugal River has served a claim in the QLD Supreme Court against Barminco, claiming $46m from the contractor (PRN)

  • Elevate is due to complete factory testing and is scheduled to ship its pilot plant to Namibia in August (EL8)

  • Manuka revealed a reserve on Mt Boppy of 290kt at 4.2g/t for 39koz Au and says a cut-back delivers a pre-tax NPV8 of $43m and IRR of 64% (MKR)

High Grade It

  • A faster-than-expected recovery in EV demand is rapidly eating into the lithium market glut, sending prices of the battery material soaring almost 50% (AFR)

  • Chinese markets for lithium are seeing heightened volatility after investors bid up prices to guard against possible supply disruptions (Bloomberg)

  • Boss has seen $600m of shareholder value erased after it raised concerns about the future of Honeymoon, just days after the MD handed in his notice (AFR)

  • Rio plans to be mining in the Pilbara well into the 22nd century, in another rebuff to Andrew Forrest’s claims the region is in imminent danger (Australian)

  • Valterra said its sales of PGMs decreased by 25% to 1.48Moz in the first half, mainly owing to the impact of flooding at Amandelbult after heavy rains in Feb, with earnings down 81% (Reuters)

  • A garnet miner run by the brother of Chris Ellison has fallen into administration after MinRes pulled the plug on funding (AFR)

  • Vitol handed a record US$10.6B to its execs & senior staff through share buybacks last year, as the fallout of the energy crisis continued to deliver extraordinary riches (Bloomberg)

When every second counts, experience matters. Trust Australasian Response Group for complete emergency response and safety.

Wheelin’ n Dealin’

  • Winsome has formally terminated the call option with Stornoway Diamonds to acquire Renard (WR1)

  • Resolution Minerals will pursue a NASDAQ listing (RML)

Rattlin’ the Tin

  • Newmont commenced a US$2B note offering (NEM)

  • GR Silver announced a C$12m bought deal financing (GRSL.V)

  • EQ Resources has entered a binding term sheet with Oaktree for a US$7.5m royalty-based funding package (EQR)

Word on the Decline

  • We think it is a matter of time before Exxaro comes for the rest of Jupiter Mines to consolidate Tshipi (19.9% shareholder following a transaction in May this year)

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In the Weeds

  • Trump is the absent star of Diggers & Dealers (Dryblower)

  • Want a free Scoping Study Model Template for mining projects? Just drop your GC number in the comments of this Linkedin post (it’s at the top of this email)

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Today’s Top Tweet

Devil’s in the Detail

Here’s what happens to lithium recoveries when you put higher volumes of unsorted material through the plant:

Our concern is the depletion of ROM stockpiles QoQ and the quality of those stockpiles. We are confused how the ROM stockpile depletion to this extent would be “as planned” - the conference call will hopefully clarify this.

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