Liontown Fight for Relief from Lithium Losses

Lotus launches restart raise, Harmony rumoured to be studying Ravenswood

October 23, 2024

The Pre-Start

  • Perseus produced ~121koz at US$1,201/oz, generating notional operating cashflow of US$127m and on track to meet guidance, finishing the quarter with cash & bullion of US$643m and no debt (PRU)

  • WAF produced ~48koz at US$1,296/oz AISC for Q3CY24 on track to achieve the upper end of guidance, with Kiaka progress on time & budget (project +60% complete), finishing the quarter with net cash of US$40m (WAF)

  • Boss Energy produced 89klbs of U3O8, as column 1 hit nameplate. It received $23m in receipt from the sale of 200klbs, guidance of 850klbs maintained (BOE)

  • Aurelia finished with $103m, down $13m, having spent $18m on growth capex. Dargues made its final contribution while first stopes were mined at Federation. A Cobar optimisation study will see it expand Peak through to ~1.15Mtpa (AMI)

  • Freeport produced 1.1b lb copper in the quarter (FCX) a fire at PT-FI’s new smelter facility requires government approval for concentrate export continuity until restored

  • St Barbara’s Simberi studies continue, while it produced 12koz at AISC of $3,905. It finished with $194m in liquid assets (including $86m of restricted cash) (SBM)

  • 29Metals’ Golden Grove produced 4.4kt Cu (down 2.2kt QoQ due to lower grades) and 19kt Zn at AISC of US$3.42/lb Cu sold, while reduction of water levels at Capricorn Copper remained a key focus. Cash slid to $60m from $85m last Q, with an additional US$20m debt drawn post quarter end (29M) gold hedges now $31m out-of-the-money adding to the pain. Down 10%

  • Hillgrove produced 2.9kt of Cu at all-in costs of US$3.71/lb, with staying relatively flat at $7.5m. It also announced a $10m standby debt facility (HGO)

  • WA1 provided assay results from Luni resource definition drilling on the periphery of the north-east high-grade zone (WA1)

  • Brazilian Rare Earths made a new discovery of outcropping rare earth mineralisation located 2.5km from its Monte Alto deposit (BRE)

  • Ausgold finished the quarter with $22m cash, key DFS workstreams for its Katanning gold project continue to progress (targeted for completion in late Q2 2025) with a 19,000m RC drill program set to commence this month (AUC)

  • Centaurus ended the quarter with $19.9m cash and continues to work towards FID decision at their Jaguar nickel project by Q2 2025 (CTM)

  • Astral reported results from its Feysville’s Kamperman prospect (AAR), with 1832 is now a substantial holder, with a 5% stake (AAR)

High Grade It

  • ASIC is looking into Mineral Resources’ corporate governance crisis as its shares keep falling (West)

  • Chris Ellison revelations spark Mineral Resources investor crisis (Australian)

  • The WA gov’t & Liontown are in advanced talks over royalty relief, while the country’s most profitable lithium mine teeters close to the red (West)

  • Fortescue pushes Canberra for emissions policy review (AFR)

  • The Albanese government and Iluka remain at loggerheads over the future of the Eneabba refinery after almost a year of tense negotiations (Australian)

  • The government’s climate tsar accused gas companies of trying to stop renewables while encouraging measures to boost uptake (AFR)

  • Zambia plans to develop dozens of mining licenses together with investors to boost copper output in Africa’s second-biggest producer (Bloomberg)

  • The copper curse struck again as administrators called in at True North Copper, wedged between debt and start-up costs (MiningNews)

  • A quarter of the world's green hydrogen projects are in Australia, around 20% of which are underway, said Energy Minister Chris Bowen (Reuters)

  • Gold hits record high as rate cuts and Middle East tensions fuel demand (FT)

  • Uranium stocks fall as Deep Yellow flags 'dire' global supply environment (CB)

  • Almost 9 years after a devastating dam collapse, BHP is set to defend allegations at trial that it is trying to avoid its liability (West)

  • Zijin reported stronger net profit growth with gold production on track & copper falling slightly behind, while postponing start of production at two of its lithium projects (MiningNews)

Wheelin’ n Dealin’

  • Dataroom reported A$11b-market cap Harmony Gold as a potential suitor for Ravenswood gold mine as EMR readies for a sale (Australian) recall Harmony acquired the Eva copper development project in Queensland two years ago

  • Marvel Gold entered into a binding term sheet with Precious Metal Consulting to sells its Tabakorole and Yanfolila gold projects in Mali for $3m (MVL)

  • Horizon Minerals is in a trading halt pending an announcement in relation to a proposed material acquisition (HRZ)

Rattlin’ the Tin

  • Lotus launched a $110m placement + $15m SPP to fund the accelerated restart of its Kayelekera uranium project in Malawi (LOT)

  • Rio2 has a financing package for US$150 million for construction of their Fenix gold project in Chile (RIO.V) consisting of a C$40 million placement and US$120 million financing package with Wheaton (prepay / debt / stream)

  • Tolu Minerals is seeking to raise $22m to accelerate exploration, study and mine development works at its Tolukuma gold mine in PNG (AFR’s Street Talk)

  • Meeka Metals completed the second tranche of their $35m placement announced last month (MEK)

  • AuMEGA Metals (previously Matador) raised C$16.3m via an upsized placement (AAM) B2Gold increased their overall ownership to 9.9%

  • Hillgrove executed a $10m stand-by debt facility with Freepoint to provide additional balance sheet flexibility as its Kanmantoo copper ops ramp up (HGO)

  • Belararox raised $8m, with Denala increasing its shareholding to 17% (BRX)

In the Weeds

  • When did the MinRes board learn of Chris Ellison’s offshore scandal? (AFR)

  • Who controls the lithium narrative, and will Australia star in the story? (MiningNews)

  • Why Xi Jinping changed his mind on China’s fiscal stimulus (FT)

  • North America a happy hunting ground for Aussie juniors (Barry Fitzgerald)

  • Toronto and Brazilian Stock Exchanges signed a non-binding MoU to work together on various opportunities, including exploring a Brazil-based solution to build on Canadian mining expertise and building an ecosystem to facilitate potential dual listings of Brazilian-based minerals companies (TMX)

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Today’s Top Tweet

Devil’s in the Detail

We like to skim the “key risks” sections of the capital-raising investor presentations for bespoke risks put in by the legal boffins. In the case of Lotus’ $110m raise yesterday, we learned something new about a historic ground stabilisation issue.

Lotus has detailed as such in its DFS where US$9.4m is earmarked to go towards rectifying. But reading the raise risks was more fun!

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