Interview: Savannah Resources seeks pole position in European lithium race

Solarworld AG

25/10/2017 18:57

* Bacanora also working on German project 
    * Rio Tinto's Serbian project moving slowly forward 
 
    By Barbara Lewis 
    LONDON, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Miner Savannah Resources  SAVS.L  
aims to begin mining lithium in Portugal at the end of 2019, 
making it the first big producer of the battery mineral in 
Europe, where rival projects are springing up across the 
continent. 
    So far, lithium production has been led by Latin America, 
Australia and China, and Asia has dominated lithium 
battery-making. 
    German automakers are pushing for Europe to catch up, while 
South Korea's LG Chem  051910.KS  will open Europe's largest 
lithium-ion battery factory in Poland next year.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1MN20I 
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N1LU2VO 
    Savannah says it is in line to be Europe's first significant 
producer of spodumene, a hard-rock form of lithium in favour as 
a relatively quick source of battery grade lithium compared with 
brines, which can take much longer to process, although analysts 
say technological advances could change that.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N1KQ5SG 
    "We're in a unique position in Europe. What we have is a 
premier lithium project," CEO David Archer said in an interview. 
    "Late 2019 for a production start is an aggressive target 
for Savannah but also one which the company thinks is 
achievable." 
    Although Europe is reliant on lithium imports, which 
analysts say in any case are economic to ship, there are other 
projects for domestic production. 
    The biggest is Rio Tinto's  RIO.L   RIO.AX  giant reserve in 
Serbia, which Rio says is expected to start production in 2023. 
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N1KF3Y2 
    Another junior miner Bacanora Minerals  BCN.V  is focused on 
bringing on new soft rock lithium production, which is 
potentially cheaper to process than hard rock, in Mexico in 
2019. But it also decided to seek out a European project and has 
a 50 percent interest in and joint operational control of the 
Zinnwald Lithium Project in eastern Germany. 
    In Mexico, Bacanora already has a pilot project that is 
producing battery-grade lithium carbonate and has a 10-year 
offtake, or supply, agreement with Japanese trading house Hanwa 
 8078.T .  
    Hanwa has a nearly 10 percent stake in Bacanora, as does 
U.S. investment manager BlackRock. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nRSD8zccm2     
    Savannah says it does not yet have offtake deals, but is 
looking to negotiate with the companies that convert spodumeme 
concentrate into battery chemicals and with auto manufacturers.  
   
 
 (Editing by Mark Potter) 
 ((Barbara.hm.Lewis@thomsonreuters.com; +44 207 542 2932; 
Reuters Messaging: 
barbara.hm.lewis.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: SAVANNAH RES EUROPE/LITHIUM