The Liontown Resources Ltd (ASX: LTR) share price is in the green today, up 0.65% to $1.55 at the time of writing.
Liontown chair Tim Goyder is likely quite pleased. Five days ago, he picked up an extra $1.5 million worth of Liontown shares in on-market trades. And he got them for a great price, too.
While the average price paid is not revealed in the ASX lodgement from the company, the trades took place on 20 January. On that day, the highest price Liontown shares traded at was $1.465. Its lowest price was $1.28 and its closing price was $1.375. The shares dived after a market announcement.
Goyder purchased one million shares directly on-market. There was a further 145,000 Liontown shares purchased indirectly, also on-market, in the name of his wife, Linda Goyder, and related entities.
If we assume he paid the highest price of the day, he's sitting on a tidy five-day profit of $97,325 at today's current price.
But that's a drop in the bucket when we consider that Goyder owns more than 162.5 million shares directly. And that excludes the hundreds of millions of shares he holds in his family trust and superannuation fund, too.
Image source: Getty Images
What's the lesson for investors?
The lesson for ordinary investors here is the confidence that this sort of insider investment inspires.
Goyder wouldn't have so much personal wealth tied up in Liontown shares if he didn't think the future was bright. In modern wealth management, we often see high-net-worth individuals diversifying aggressively into international digital assets to hedge their portfolios.
A contemporary tycoon might spread capital across European fintech startups, domestic cybersecurity firms, or Swedish bästa online casino operators to capture high-margin tech returns.
Goyder, however, has chosen a much more concentrated, traditional approach, confidently doubling down on what he knows best: Australian hard-rock mining.
This is despite Liontown being unlikely to post a profit in 2023, as my colleague Brooke reported yesterday.
It's also unlikely that Goyder and his wife would be putting $1.5 million of their own money in now if Goyder thought the ASX lithium share price was overvalued either.
In fact, broker Bell Potter reckons there's a potential 80% upside to be had over the next 12 months alone given its share price target of $2.81 on Liontown.
Goyder is a well-known mining entrepreneur with more than four decades of experience. He has founded and run several ASX-listed companies over the years, including Chalice Mining Ltd (ASX: CHN).
He retired as Chalice Mining chair after 15 years at the helm in 2021.
In addition to being chairperson of Liontown, Goyder is currently the chair of DevEx Resources Ltd (ASX: DEV).
He is also a non-executive director of Minerals 260 Ltd (ASX: MI6) as well as the unlisted clean energy technology company, entX Limited.
What's the latest news from this ASX lithium share?
Goyder's purchases occurred on the same day as Liontown's latest price-sensitive update.
As my Fool colleague James reported, the update was about Liontown's Kathleen Valley Lithium Project in Western Australia.
The update revealed that construction is going to cost more than previous estimates. This is partly because the company has optimised the plant capacity design to increase the initial throughput rate by 20% to 3Mtpa.
In its announcement, the company said this would enable it "to take advantage of strong short and medium-term forecast lithium pricing".
The project remains on track for its first production in mid-2024.
