Latest news with #Ottaviano
West Australian
10-07-2025
- Business
- West Australian
Liontown Resources hungry for lithium M&A despite low prices squeezing liquidity
Acquisitions are on the cards, Liontown Resources has revealed, turning the table on suggestions its lithium mine could soon be ceded to Gina Rinehart or mothballed. Kathleen Valley is transitioning from an open-pit to underground mining operation and three months ago an Australian-first milestone was achieved when maiden lithium ore was extracted below ground at the Goldfields site. The ramp-up of underground activity is going to plan, according to Liontown chief executive Tony Ottaviano, with the miner confident enough in its progress to invite media, politicians and customers to a formal opening of the underground site. Speaking at the formal opening on Thursday, Mr Ottaviano was bullish about the miner's prospects — despite a prolonged lithium price plunge. The value of the lithium-filled spodumene concentrate Liontown exports from Geraldton Port has declined more than 20 per cent over the past four months and nearly 90 per cent since the decision to build Kathleen Valley was made three years ago. WA lithium mines run by Liontown, Mineral Resources, PLS, Wesfarmers and SQM are all believed to be losing money at the current spodumene benchmark price of $US670 per tonne. Speculation has swirled for months that at least one of the local lithium miners would put their operations on care and maintenance to preserve cash until a supply glut eases and prices subsequently rebound. Liontown had $173 million of cash and about $700m of debt at the end of the March quarter – its most recent financial update. But Mr Ottaviano said Liontown was keen to 'keep proving the underground sceptics wrong' and would not be pulling the pin at Kathleen Valley anytime soon. 'We don't care for care and maintenance,' he told The West Australian. 'We are confident that with the passage of time, we will demonstrate that it (underground) will be a competitive advantage from the perspective that you get better recoveries. 'The open-pit people only too well know that at least 30 per cent of what they mine they cannot process because the blasting has created contamination.' Liontown's share price last closed at 75 cents, up 32 per cent year to date, but a far-cry from the $3 per share offer Albemarle lobbed for the company in October 2023. That offer was ultimately scuppered by Mrs Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting becoming Liontown's biggest shareholder. Mrs Rinehart's deep pockets, Hancock's top spot on the share register, and Liontown's relatively depressed stock price has stoked lingering speculation Australia's richest person could lob her own takeover bid. Mr Ottaviano and Liontown's chief commercial officer Grant Donald were tight-lipped about any potential takeover discussions with the Hancock camp or any other major mining players. Instead, Mr Donaldson said Liontown is gearing up to be the hunter, not the hunted. 'We shouldn't just think about Liontown as a target for mergers and acquisitions, ultimately we've delivered Kathleen Valley . . . we don't want to be a single asset company,' he said. 'There's still opportunity out there, and so we're very much thinking about what opportunities may be present in this low-price environment.' Mr Donald implied Liontown was open to examining opportunities in Australia or the Americas, but not the world's other lithium hotspot – Africa. 'Broadly speaking, there's nowhere off the table other than to say, you know, we're very cognisant that competing in Africa is challenging if you're not Chinese,' Mr Donald said. Mr Donald and Mr Ottaviano will likely have to compete with another Lion-themed business based in Perth ready to sink its claws into a new lithium mine. Leo Lithium has finished licking its wounds from an ill-fated adventure in Mali and has about $270m ready to spend on M&A — with a self-imposed clock ticking. 'If no M&A opportunities are significantly progressed by Q3 2025 (the current quarter) . . . funds will be returned to shareholders in the second half of calendar year 2025,' Leo stated last week. Leo has ruled out delving back into Africa. Mineral Resources' Wodgina and Mt Marion lithium mines in WA are rumoured to be on the market, but the Chris Ellison-led company has played down suggestions the mines are being shopped around.
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Hunters who have eaten game from Holloman Lake warned after record-high PFAS levels found
The New Mexico Department of Health issued an advisory Monday warning any hunters who ate or captured wildlife from Holloman Lake in the past decade about the possibility of contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. The advisory came after the state Environment Department released a report earlier this month that found that some samples of plants and animals near Holloman Lake, located near White Sands National Park and Holloman Air Force Base, contained what may be the highest recorded levels of plant or animal contamination from the "forever chemicals" in the world. 'The levels of PFAS contamination in Holloman Lake are deeply concerning, particularly for hunters who may have consumed waterfowl from the area over the past decade,' Miranda Durham, the health department's medical director, said in a statement. 'PFAS exposure has been linked to serious health problems, and we encourage anyone who has consumed game from this region and has concerns to talk to their healthcare provider.' A sample from the liver of a Merriam's kangaroo rat clocked PFAS concentrations at 120,000 nanograms per gram; a salt cedar sample was at 30,000 nanograms per gram. Both are thought to be record-breaking concentrations in wildlife and plants, respectively. Other samples of local plants and animals ranged from 10,000 nanograms per gram to 120,000 nanograms per gram. But what could that mean for living things around the lake? PFAS report The study found symptoms that could be related to PFAS contamination in nearby wildlife, including high rates of ulcers and abnormal growths in some small mammals and a failure to hatch. Even a gram of duck meat — less than a bite size — from Holloman Lake included more PFAS than is recommended for a lifetime exposure to the chemical group for humans, according to a February 2024 University of New Mexico report. The land was acquired by Holloman Air Force Base in 1996 as a wastewater evaporation pond, wrote spokesperson Denise Ottaviano in an email to The New Mexican. The Defense Authorization Act of 1996 required that the area remain open to the public, although recreation in the water is prohibited. Hunting has been off-limits at the lake since 2019. That decision was made "out of an abundance of caution" and due to the presence of contaminants at the lake, Ottaviano wrote. The Air Force is currently going through the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability process to investigate contamination from firefighting foam that "may be associated with Holloman AFB mission activities," Ottaviano wrote. In 2022, the Air Force entered the remedial investigation phase, which will include an assessment of risks to human health and the local ecology. "The DAF has expended $2.9 million on the PFAS investigation at Holloman AFB to date and will continue to advance the remedial investigation ..." Ottaviano wrote. "Once RI is complete, and if unacceptable risks are identified in the RI PFAS are a group of chemicals known for their aversion to breaking down in the environment. Used for everything from nonstick pans and weatherproofing materials to firefighting foam, the chemicals have been linked to an array of health conditions including increased risk of kidney and testicular cancer, increased cholesterol and reduced birth weight. Chelsea Langer, acting bureau chief for the health department's Environmental Health Epidemiology Bureau, said she hasn't seen a direct study looking at how eating PFAS-contaminated meat may affect the human body. But she said people who are concerned should speak with their doctor or potentially get a blood test to measure the levels of PFAS in their blood. The PFAS found around Holloman are long-chain PFAS, which are more persistent in the environment and take longer to degrade, Langer said. They have some of those same qualities in the human body, increasing the health risks. There's currently no approved treatment to remove PFAS from the human body. But knowing risk factors can help people monitor for diseases associated with exposure to the chemical. "If you get a blood test and your results are low, then I would find that reassuring. ... Most everybody has some small level of PFAS in their bodies, because they are ubiquitous," Langer said. "If there are higher levels of PFAS, then that would be an indication for you and your doctor to monitor more carefully for cholesterol or for kidney and testicular cancer ... and just hopefully catch those early."
