BCI Minerals inks salt supply deal with Indonesian mining holding firm (updated)

BCI Minerals

04/07/2023 09:41

(Recasts throughout with details of deal, adds share moves in
paragraph 4, context in paragraph 5,6)
       July 4 (Reuters) - Australian explorer BCI Minerals
 BCI.AX  on Tuesday said it signed a non-binding agreement with
mining holding firm Mineral Industri Indonesia (MIND ID) to
supply salt from its Mardie Salt and Potash project on the
Pilbara coast.
    Under the agreement, BCI Minerals will supply 1 million
tonnes per annum (mtpa) of salt to MIND ID.  
    MIND ID, which is fully owned by the Indonesian government
and has majority stake in top mining firms like Aneka Tambang
 ANTM.JK  and Bukit Asam  PTBA.JK , will also potentially buy a
stake in BCI worth up to A$100 million ($66.8 million). 
    BCI shares ended 10.9% higher on Tuesday, taking its market
valuation to A$308.93 million. 
    The agreement comes weeks after BCI flagged that it expected
the Mardie project to cost about A$1.63 billion.
    BCI, backed by local businessman Kerry Stokes, last week
signed an agreement with Japanese trading house Itochu Corp
 8001.T  to supply high-purity salt from the Mardie project. 
    BCI and MIND ID currently anticipate negotiations to
complete later in the calendar year 2023.


($1 = 1.4972 Australian dollars)

 (Reporting by Nausheen Thusoo in Bengaluru; Editing by Dhanya
Ann Thoppil)
 ((Nausheen.Thusoo@thomsonreuters.com;))