A couple of interesting tidbits over recent days: Rio spent...

A couple of interesting tidbits over recent days:

Rio spent $US825 million acquiring Argentina’s undeveloped Rincon lithium project last year and also spent close to $4.8 billion consolidating ownership of Mongolia’s Oyu Tolgoi copper mine.
Rio revealed on Wednesday the cost of the Rincon project had blown out from $US140 million to $US330 million.
Mr Stausholm said the Rincon blow out was “bad”, but he said it was also “good” that Rio had taken such small, cautious steps into lithium that the cost over-runs suffered while learning about a new sector were also small in the context of Rio’s business.

https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/eramet-says-it-secured-$400-mln-lithium-deal-with-glencore

PARIS, July 26 (Reuters) - Eramet ERMT.PA said on Wednesday that it had signed earlier this month a $400 million deal with commodities group Glencore GLEN.L to jointly market some 50,000 metric tons of lithium produced on its Argentina site over five years.
The French group said the deal was not yet included in its first-half results reported on Wednesday, Eramet Chief Financial Officer Nicolas Carre told reporters.
The amount of $400 million will be pre-paid in 2023 and the volumes sold over five years at market price, he said.
Eramet said last month that Glencore was among parties to have expressed interest in helping finance its lithium production in Argentina.