News: A11 Ghana sovereign wealth fund invests in nation's first lithium mine

NAIROBI, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Ghana's sovereign wealth fund will invest almost $33 million in a lithium mine in the country and take a minority stake in its developer Atlantic Lithium (A11) , the company said on Friday.

Ghana's Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) will buy a 6% stake in Atlantic Lithium's projects in the country, including Ewoyaa, which is set to be the West African country's first lithium producing mine, for $27.9 million, Atlantic Lithium said in a statement.

The investment is another example of a surge in interest in companies producing the key electric vehicle battery metal amid the clean energy transition.

In 2021, Piedmont Lithium PLL.O took a 9% stake in Atlantic Lithium to secure spodumene, or high-purity lithium ore, for which it has a supply contract with electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc TSLA.O .

MIIF will also buy a 3.05% stake in Atlantic Lithium for $5 million, it said. The deal gives it an option to bid for the Ewoyaa project's available supply contract of the lithium produced, through a competitive process.

"There is a competitive process (for the offtake) which MIIF will also participate in, but on a commercial level," said Atlantic Lithium chairman Neil Herbert.

"There is an open field of chemical converters, OEMs and major trading groups," he said.