Australian battery mineral producer Liontown Resources has selected Qube Holdings for spodumene and direct shipping ore (DSO) haulage at the Kathleen Valley lithium project in Western Australia.

Under the five-year contract, which is worth A$175m ($118m), Qube will provide services such as loading spodumene concentrate, and haulage of the concentrate to the Port of Geraldton.

The contract also includes storage and stockpile management within the port of Geraldton and the outload to port infrastructure for shipment to Liontown customers.

Work under the contract is planned to commence in mid-2024, consistent with the plant ramp-up process.

Liontown managing director and CEO Tony Ottaviano said: “We look forward to working with Qube on the haulage and storage of our spodumene concentrate and DSO material from Kathleen Valley as well as benefiting from their expertise in the industry, especially with their extensive experience managing spodumene for others.

“This contract coupled with the underground mining services (due this quarter) represents one of the last few outstanding contracts to be awarded as we progress Kathleen Valley towards first production mid-2024.”

Qube plans to use ultra-Quad road trains to truck all concentrate from the Kathleen Valley project to the storage facility at the Port of Geraldton for the duration of the contract.

It will also use its continual fleet monitoring centre in Perth to manage safety.

The concentrate haulage services contract is subject to finalising arrangements by Qube to secure the storage facility at the Port of Geraldton.