News: BCI UPDATE 1-BCI Minerals inks salt supply deal with Indonesian mining holding firm

(Recasts throughout with details of deal, adds share moves in paragraph 4, context in paragraph 5,6)

July 4 (Reuters) - Australian explorer BCI Minerals (BCI) on Tuesday said it signed a non-binding agreement with mining holding firm Mineral Industri Indonesia (MIND ID) to supply salt from its Mardie Salt and Potash project on the Pilbara coast.

Under the agreement, BCI Minerals will supply 1 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of salt to MIND ID.

MIND ID, which is fully owned by the Indonesian government and has majority stake in top mining firms like Aneka Tambang ANTM.JK and Bukit Asam PTBA.JK , will also potentially buy a stake in BCI worth up to A$100 million ($66.8 million).

BCI shares ended 10.9% higher on Tuesday, taking its market valuation to A$308.93 million.

The agreement comes weeks after BCI flagged that it expected the Mardie project to cost about A$1.63 billion.

BCI, backed by local businessman Kerry Stokes, last week signed an agreement with Japanese trading house Itochu Corp 8001.T to supply high-purity salt from the Mardie project.

BCI and MIND ID currently anticipate negotiations to complete later in the calendar year 2023.

($1 = 1.4972 Australian dollars)