Australia's ioneer signs lithium offtake deal with South Korea's Ecopro

ECOPRO

30/06/2021 03:54

June 30 (Reuters) - Australian lithium-boron supplier ioneer
Ltd  INR.AX  said on Wednesday it would supply lithium carbonate
to a unit of South Korean battery maker Ecopro Co Ltd
 086520.KQ  from its Rhyolite Ridge project in Nevada.
    Lithium, an essential component of electric vehicles (EVs),
is becoming increasingly important with EV demand surging
globally as countries race to meet emission targets and move
towards cleaner modes of transportation.
    Under the terms of the three-year offtake agreement, ioneer
will deliver up to 7,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate per annum
to Ecopro Innovation.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nASX904T18
    The deal marks one of the first offtake agreements for a
lithium project in the United States as it pushes to go
electric. For ioneer, it represents up to 34% of annual lithium
carbonate output for the first three years of production.
    The company expects to produce an annual average of roughly
20,600 tonnes of lithium carbonate, or 22,000 tonnes of lithium
hydroxide, and 174,400 tonnes of boric acid over 26 years from
the Nevada mine.
    The Rhyolite Ridge project was dealt a blow earlier this
month after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said it would
propose listing a rare flower that grows in the vicinity of the
mine as an endangered species.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2NL1DO
    Shares of ioneer jumped as much as 8.8% to A$0.37, their
highest level in almost three weeks.

 (Reporting by Tejaswi Marthi in Bengaluru; Editing by
Subhranshu Sahu)
 ((Tejaswi.Marthi@thomsonreuters.com;))