“Skid maths” is the macabre process of measuring tyre marks on a road to determine the speed of a car before a crash, and Liontown Resources chief executive Tony Ottaviano had a blunt warning for those doing the sums on his corporate vehicle.

“I wouldn’t use your skid maths as indicative,” he said on an investor call, after Barrenjoey analyst Glyn Lawcock hypothesised a lithium price at which Liontown would hit the wall.