AFR
Lithium target Essential ready to talk
with MinRes

Takeover target Essential Metals has hinted that a lithium offtake deal with a big Asian customer will likely be easier and swifter to execute than a deal with an acquisitive shareholder like Chris Ellison’s Mineral Resources.

Essential boss Tim Spencer resumed lithium offtake talks last week after a six-month hiatus forced by January’s $136 million takeover attempt by Tianqi and IGO.

“If MinRes or another Australian company puts up a competitive offer then of course we would have to look at it,” said Tim Spencer, pictured in Perth on Friday. Tony McDonough

The takeover was rejected by Essential shareholders in April after MinRes made an eleventh hour raid on Essential shares which pushed the stock 16 per cent above Tianqi and IGO’s 50¢ offer price.

Despite spoiling the Tianqi and IGO bid, MinRes has not followed through with an alternative takeover offer and Essential shares have traded below 50¢ for the past two weeks, closing at 47¢ on Friday.

MinRes said on April 26 that acquisition of a 19.9 per cent stake in Essential was “consistent with the company’s focus on lithium opportunities” in the region around MinRes’ Mt Marion mine.