Altura strikes $41.6m deal with Chinese battery maker Stuart...

Altura strikes $41.6m deal with Chinese battery maker

Stuart McKinnon - The West Australian on November 8, 2016, 9:03 am

Altura Mining has struck a $41.6 million deal with a Chinese battery manufacturer to help pay for the development of its Pilgangoora lithium project in the Pilbara.

Under the terms of the deal, Shaanxi J&R Optimum Energy will be issued 306 million new shares in Altura priced at 13.6 cents in a two-tranche placement.

The deal will give J&R Optimum a 19.9 per cent stake in Altura and a seat at the company’s board table.
J&R Optimum has 18 battery plants either in operation or under construction across several Chinese provinces and is listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, capitalised at about $5 billion.

Altura’s managing director James Brown said the outcome of the placement was an excellent result for both companies’ future growth.

He said the transaction significantly de-risked the Pilgangoora project and provided a strong lead to debt funding groups as Altura worked towards finalising the complete financial package for the project.

Altura said the deal would provide the necessary funds to allow construction of the mine to begin once the last statutory approvals had been obtained.

J&R Optimum recently acquired the Optimum Nano group with whom Altura signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding earlier this year to take a minimum of 100,000 tonnes per annum of lithium spodumene concentrate.

Altura also has a binding offtake agreement with Chinese group Lionergy to take a minimum 100,000 tonnes of spodumene a year for an initial five years.

Shares in the company were up 2.5 cents, or 20 per cent, to 15 cents after emerging from a trading halt.


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