Altura Mining has signed a five-year binding offtake agreement to supply lithium to China-based Guangdong Weihua.
Under the terms of the agreement, Altura will supply 50,000 dry metric tonnes (dmt) per annum of 6% grade spodumene concentrate (SC6) from its Altura Lithium Mine located at Pilgangoora in Western Australia to Guangdong Weihua.
The first shipment of more than 10,000dmt is scheduled to load this month, with further deliveries of the remaining 40,000dmt anticipated until next February.
Offtake partner Lionergy has agreed to a reduction in tonnage covered by their existing offtake obligation which will now provide a minimum annual allocation of 65,000dmt.
Altura Mining managing director James Brown said: “This new agreement with Weihua continues to diversify and strengthen our existing customer base, which is key when developing a new energy supply chain.
“Weihua has established operations in China and demonstrated the ability to both mine and process battery pre-cursor materials.
“Importantly for Altura, our high-quality lithium concentrate remains sought after in the market and we will continue to ensure the consistency and quality of our product to all our offtake partners.”
Key offtake terms include a minimum price of $550dmt based on Lithium Oxide (Li20) content per dmt on 6% Li20 for the first year of the contract period and a cap of $950dmt for the second and subsequent years.
In July 2017, the company secured a $110m senior debt facility to fund the development of the Pilgangoora Lithium project which received Department of Mines and Petroleum (DMP) approval of an associated mine closure plan in February 2017.
