Banter and General Comments, page-404

Who would ORE be looking to acquire?

Commentary by Adrià Calatayud

The lithium-mining industry has seen a string of deals this year, with Zijin Mining Group's acquisition of Canada's Neo Lithium the latest example of a miner looking to secure future supplies to power an electric-vehicle boom. In several cases, acquisitions were preceded by purchases of minority stakes or joint ventures between large lithium producers and smaller companies with projects under development. Before its takeover, Neo Lithium--which owns a lithium project in Argentina--received an investment from Tesla supplier Contemporary Amperex Technology, or CATL. Ganfeng Lithium--a supplier to Volkswagen--agreed to buy U.K.-listed Bacanora Lithium after the pair had formed a JV for a project in Mexico. More deals could be on the cards if the trend of acquisitions following minority stakes or partnerships continues. CATL owns stakes in Greenland-focused North American Nickel and Australia's Pilbara Minerals. Piedmont Lithium earlier this year bought an interest in U.K.-listed IronRidge Resources and established a partnership with Australia's Sayona Mining. In December, Australia's IGO agreed to form a JV with China's Tianqi Lithium. Moreover, Australia's Orocobre has signaled that further purchases could follow its acquisition of rival Galaxy Resources. Listed companies looking to develop lithium projects include American Lithium, Savannah Resources, Nordic Mining or Bradda Head Lithium.

Market Insights are commentary which is independent of the news coverage by reporters at the Wall Street Journal.

Write to Adrià Calatayud at [email protected]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 11, 2021 11:16 ET (15:16 GMT)