London-listed Marula Mining has signed a contract for an initial trial shipment of high-grade lithium ore to a Chinese importer and exporter of metalliferous ores.

The agreement entails Marula selling 27.5 t of material processed from historical stockpiles at the Blesberg lithium and tantalum mine, in South Africa’s Northern Cape province, with specifications of 6% to 6.5% lithium oxide grade on a free-on-board basis from the Port of Cape Town.

The parties agreed a sales price of $3 000/t, based on a minimum grade of 6% lithium oxide.

Payment of the initial trial shipment will be made upon delivery of the material to Cape Town, which is expected in the next seven to 14 days.

The Marula board considers this initial trial sales agreement as a step forward for further direct sales into China.

The company is in the process of negotiating the termination of a previous offtake agreement with Southern Jade Resources that extended over the first 2 000 t of spodumene material produced from the stockpiles at Blesberg, which was announced in October last year.

Marula is also in the process of concluding negotiations of long-term offtake agreements for spodumene and lithium products with a number of Europe-based global commodity trading groups. This will support Marula’s broader development plans for the proposed Blesberg openpit mining operations.

Marula CEO Jason Brewer says there has been interest from multiple Chinese groups in the company’s lithium mining and processing operations at the Blesberg mine over the last few months, and this initial shipment of high-grade spodumene allows Marula to deliver material into that market.

“While this agreement with a Chinese importer and exporter of metalliferous ores has the potential to open up other opportunities in China for Marula, it is important to note that our focus remains firmly on concluding our negotiations on a long-term offtake agreement with one of several global commodity trading groups for the production of lithium from Blesberg.

“The negotiations with the global commodity trading groups for an offtake agreement are ongoing for all or part of the future production from Blesberg,” Brewer explains.