Altura readies for offtake vote

24th September 2020 By: Esmarie Iannucci - Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor: Australasia

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The shareholders of lithium producer Altura Mining are expected to vote on an offtake agreement with major shareholder Hunan Yongshan Lithium Company on September 25.

Altura in June this year struck a multi-year lithium offtake agreement with Hunan Yongshan, a subsidiary of shareholder Ningbo Shanshan.

The five-year binding offtake agreement will start in January next year, with a minimum of 60 000 t/y from January 2022. The binding offtake agreement includes options to agree to increase the supply to 120 000 t/y.

A separate contract for 2020 would see Altura provide 44 000 t of 6% grade spodumene concentrate product in line with market price.

Altura will be a key supplier to Shanshan’s new lithium chemical plant, which has a planned Phase 1 production of 25 000 t/y lithium carbonate equivalent. The plant started construction in April, and also included a Phase 2 expansion to take overall output to 45 000 t/y.

Altura on Thursday told shareholders that production from lithium operation, in Western Australia, remained steady, with production remaining in line with previous quarters. Shipping tonnage for the September quarter have exceeded production, with a total of 51 217 t sold through four separate cargoes to long-term offtake partners.

“Alutra’s production and sales have continued to be strong through what are still weak market conditions. Altura has established a proven reputation as a low cost, stable supplier of high quality spodumene concentrate,” said MD James Brown.

“Our ability to continue to operate at full capacity through this challenging time differentiates Altura from our peers and is a testament to our entire team and their ongoing efforts.”