Photo by: Bloomberg
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Lithium developer Kidman Resources has inked an offtake agreement with clean energy solutions provider Tesla to supply lithium hydroxide.
The agreement is for an initial three-year term on a fixed price take-or-pay basis, with two three-year term options.
Kidman said on Thursday that the agreement equated to less than 25% of the company’s portion of initial nameplate production for the first three years of its planned lithium refinery, in Western Australia.
Kidman in early May announced a joint venture (JV) with Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile to lease land in the Kwinana Strategic Industrial Area to develop a lithium refinery.
The JV is planning to commission the refinery in 2021, with an initial nameplate capacity of 44 000 t/y of lithium hydroxide, or 37 000 t/y of lithium carbonate. A definitive feasibility study for the refinery is expected for release in late 2018.
Kidman on Thursday told shareholders that the company was also in discussions with other strategic and globally significant parties seeking refined lithium offtake.
To date, expressions of interest from these parties have materially exceeded Kidman’s portion of initial refinery nameplate production, the company said, adding that it was currently targeting to enter into a limited number of offtake agreements, while leaving a minority portion of future supply uncontracted.