Australia's AVZ Minerals secures $240 mln funding for Congo lithium project

Atenor SA

27/09/2021 01:09

Sept 27 (Reuters) - Australia's AVZ Minerals  AVZ.AX  said
on Monday it had secured a $240 million funding from a private
investment firm, jointly owned by Chinese battery maker CATL
 300750.SZ , to develop its lithium project in the Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC).
    Under the agreement, private equity firm Suzhou CATH Energy
Technologies would get a 24% stake in the joint venture to
develop the Manono lithium and tin project in southern DRC in
exchange for the funding.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nGLFWM6pV
    AVZ's interest in the project would drop to 51% from 75%,
while DRC-owned firm Cominiere would retain its 25% stake.
    In March, the Australian mineral explorer had entered an
agreement with China-based Chengxin Lithium Group  002240.SZ 
for supply of lithium ore mineral spodumene from Manono project.
  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2L64J2
    Suzhou CATH will contribute more than $400 million in total
subject to costs verification, with parties also agreeing to
assess the feasibility of developing a lithium hydroxide
facility, AVZ said in a statement on Monday.

 (Reporting by Tejaswi Marthi in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry
Jacob-Phillips)
 ((Tejaswi.Marthi@thomsonreuters.com;))