BCI Minerals signs salt supply deal with Japanese trading house Itochu (updated)

BCI Minerals

27/06/2023 01:12

(Adds details in paragraphs 2, 4-7, quote in paragraph 3)
       June 27 (Reuters) - Australia-based BCI Minerals
 BCI.AX  said on Tuesday it would sell high-purity salt from its
Mardie project on the Pilbara coast to Japanese trading house
Itochu Corp  8001.T .
    The salt and potash mineral explorer, backed by local
businessman Kerry Stokes, will supply Itochu with a minimum of
3,600 kilotonnes (kt) of salt over five years from 2026.
    "BCI looks forward to supplying Itochu with high-purity
Mardie salt and welcoming Itochu as a preferred trading partner
for Japan, Korea and Taiwan," Managing Director David Boshoff
said in a statement.
    Earlier this month, BCI told investors that it now expected
the Mardie salt and sulphate of potash project to cost about
A$1.63 billion ($1.09 billion), including A$208 million
contingency reserve.
    Itochu, one of the five major Japanese trading houses in
which Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway recently raised its
stake, shall purchase 500 kt of salt each during the first two
years, 600 kt in the third year and 1000 kt in the last two
years.
    The obligations of both parties are conditional until the
commissioning of the Mardie Project infrastructure by the first
quarter of 2023.
    
($1 = 1.4984 Australian dollars)

 (Reporting by Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by
Subhranshu Sahu)
 ((Rishav.Chatterjee@thomsonreuters.com;))