Aerial view of the Manono project
Lithium miner Tantalex Lithium Resources has finalised a lithium marketing offtake agreement and convertible facilities agreement, reaching a financial arrangement of up to $5-million with diversified miner Glencore.
The marketing offtake agreement encompasses the entirety of the lithium production from Tantalex's Manono lithium tailings project, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This agreement is effective from the start of commercial production and extends throughout the entire lifespan of the mine.
As part of the deal, Glencore will assume exclusive responsibility for all sales and commit to contributing one third of the total capital expenditure (capex) for the Manono lithium tailings project. However, this contribution is contingent upon Glencore's satisfactory review of the feasibility study, which is expected to be completed within 60 days of receiving the final version thereof.
Notably, the deal is conditional on the capex being entirely funded by financial institutions or through equity raised by Tantalex. The specifics of the drawdown schedule will be subject to further discussion and mutual agreement between both parties and other lenders involved.
"This is again a significant milestone for us as we pursue our objective to de-risk the project and adhere to our target of bringing our Manono lithium tailings project into production. With our recent preliminary economic assessment, which outlined a $147-million capex for a 112 000 t/y spodumene concentrate [operation], this strategic support from Glencore will solidly complement our efforts to firm up the other two-thirds of the capex costs,” Tantalex CEO Eric Allard said on November 13.
Under the convertible facilities agreement, Glencore has committed to providing a convertible term loan facility in an amount up to $2-million and another facility in an amount up to $3-million.
Both facilities are set to conclude on December 1, 2025.
As part of the agreement, Tantalex has agreed to remit a facility fee to Glencore, equating to 1.5% of the aggregate amount of the facilities as of the closing date.