Altura locks in 100% lithium production offtake

According to Mining News Pro -The deal will see Altura deliver a minimum of 70,000 tonnes a year of lithium from its open pit Pilgangoora project in Western Australia to Ganfeng-owned battery metals company GFL until the end of 2021.

Ganfeng is China’s largest lithium compound producer and also the world’s largest lithium metal producer.

Altura has committed to a minimum of 8000 tonnes of delivery for the remainder of 2018, after which the 70,000 tonnes a year target will come into effect.

The lithium is marked at a 6 per cent minimum for spodumene concentration and will be sold at a minimum of $US550 ($757) per dry metric tonne and maximum of $US950 ($1308) per dry metric tonne until the end of 2020.

The deal locks in a 100 per cent offtake figure for Altura’s planned stage one production of 220,000 tonnes a year at Pilgangoora and also allows for up to 10 years of extensions.

A stage two definitive feasibility study (DFS) showed the site could potentially double capacity to 440,000 tonne a year.

“Ganfeng is one of the largest and most respected lithium companies in the world and an offtake agreement with them is further proof of the quality of the product we are producing from the Altura lithium operations,” Altura managing director James Brown said.

Altura also has an offtake deal in place with another Chinese partner, Shaanxi J&R Optimum Energy, which has secured an agreement for a minimum 50,000 tonnes a year from 2019.