Australia's Delta Lithium jumps as MinRes veteran Ellison joins board

Delta Lithium

12/09/2023 07:01

By Ayushman Ojha
       Sept 12 (Reuters) - Shares of Australia's Delta Lithium
 DLI.AX  jumped nearly 11% on Tuesday after a board shake-up
that saw the appointment of two executives from larger
competitor Mineral Resources (MinRes)  MIN.AX . 
    Delta appointed MinRes' founder and managing director Chris
Ellison as its non-executive chairman and its lithium business
head, Josh Thurlow, as a non-executive director. 
    Shares of the minnow lithium miner climbed as much as 10.8%
as of 0448 GMT, and was set for its best trading day in a month.
    The appointments follow MinRes scooping up a 17.4% stake in
Delta only last month and coincide with a recent wave of
consolidation in the Australian lithium market, where depressed
valuations and cash needs are forcing struggling miners to
beckon bigger players for a life float.
    Billionaire Gina Rinehart's Hancock picked up a stake in
Liontown Resources  LTR.AX , which is in the midst of A$6.61
billion ($4.25 billion) buyout bid from Albemarle.  
    "The world is scrambling to get its hands on lithium
deposits, taking advantage of discounted valuations," said
Jessica Amir, a market strategist at Moomoo trading. 
    Meanwhile, shares of Mineral Resources rose as much as 1.1%
to A$69.4.

($1 = 1.5559 Australian dollars)

 (Reporting by Ayushman Ojha and Rishav Chatterjee; Editing by
Dhanya Ann Thoppil)
 ((Ayushman.Ojha@thomsonreuters.com;))