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Lepidico (ASX:LPD) has been forced to call in voluntary administrators after the little Perth explorer failed to secure the financing it needed to keep its US$50 million Karibib Namibian project going through this year’s lithium winter.
KordaMentha has been appointed as administrators for the group and its subsidiaries; the Asia-Pacific advisory group has sent Richard Tucker and Paul Pracilio.
“The directors regrettably determined to place the companies into voluntary administration following unsuccessful attempts to secure financing for the Karibib Lithium Project and mineral concentrator,” the administrators flagged today.
The following entities run under Lepidico Limited will all be wrapped up:
- Lepidico Limited
- Lepidico Holdings
- Bright Minz
- Li-Technology
- Mica Exploration Areas
- Silica Technology
A capitalisation campaign begun by Lepidico will be completed, KordaMentha confirmed.
There was some hope within the upper Lepidico leadership ranks that the company could weather the brutal downturn that’s ripped through lithium quarters in 2024 – the Perth explorer had even told shareholders about a $17.7M licence to process lithium mica in Cornwall in September – but losses tallying more than $52 million ($7M just in FY24) simply caught up to them as the well quickly dried up.
Most losses had come from shipping lepidolite-rich concentrate out of Namibia to a chemical plant based in the United Arab Emirates where Lepidico had its processing tech; a tight pipeline in theory, but expensive in practice.
Most backbreaking was, of course, the plummeting price of lithium spodumene.
Lepidico chairman Gary Johnson had addressed those prices at the company’s AGM in November, where he declared he was hopefully they’d turn around.
The Perth-based company had also plotted a “pivot” in its strategy to reduce risk, with one step including bringing strategic partners (read: others who could shoulder costs) and changing timelines to slow things down.
That strategy evidently didn’t work as planned for the explorer as it now desperately needs recapitalisation and possible rescue from external forces.
This latest lithium casualty marks a difficult few months for companies in the space. Mineral Resources recently axed its Bald Hill mine that had been digging for lithium, while Liontown Resources was forced to cut output and Pilbara Minerals mothballed Ngungaju to focus on its flagship hard-rock Pilgangoora operation.
There’s a possibility the Western Australian government’s $150 million loan lifeline could have helped, but it likely would have just forestalled Lepidico’s troubles.
Lepidico’s now expected end comes nine years after it joined the ASX in 2016.
The little Perth miner had a market capitalisation of $17 million before ASX trading was suspended on December 4; LPD had traded at 0.02cps.
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