https://www.miningweekly.com

Tianqi Lithium says no cash flow improvement as debt clock ticks

16th November 2020

By: Reuters

  

Font size: - +

China's Tianqi Lithium said on Friday its financial situation has not improved in recent weeks as a major repayment deadline on a $3.5-billion loan looms and its application to adjust the terms is still under review.

Chengdu-based Tianqi Lithium, one of the world's biggest producers of the commodity used in electric-vehicle batteries, is due to make a $1.88-billion payment at the end of November on a syndicated loan led by China Ciitic Bank, which was taken out to buy a stake in Chile's SQM in 2018.

"Although the company has formally submitted an application for adjusting the structure of the loan terms to the syndicate, it is currently still under review," Tianqi said in a Shenzhen Stock Exchange filing.

China Citic Bank did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tianqi has posted losses for five consecutive quarters following a slump in lithium prices and warned in late September there was a risk it could default.

Six weeks on, Tianqi said its cash flow and tight liquidity have "not substantially improved", and reiterated its earlier warning that its production and operations could be severely impacted if it cannot repay on time.

It also said it was still working on bringing in strategic investors to ease its liquidity problem but nothing binding has been signed.

A collapse of Tianqi, which has a stake in Australia's Greenbushes mine and counts battery makers LG Chem and Northvolt among its customers, would rock a lithium sector that has already seen Australia's Altura Mining go into administration this quarter.

The Perth-based producer was hit by persistent low lithium prices amid oversupply, exacerbated by a drop in demand brought about by the coronavirus pandemic.

Edited by Reuters

Comments

The functionality you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION