MinRes confirmed for the first time that its interest in...

MinRes confirmed for the first time that its interest in Essential was linked to Mount Marion after helping to vote down Tianqi and IGO Limited’s $136 million plan to acquire the lithium explorer.
MinRes disclosed on April 14 that it had bought 19.5 per cent of Essential, and the share price subsequently surged to well above the 50¢ offer price lobbed by Tianqi and IGO in January.
It is understood MinRes sees potential to eventually truck feedstock from Essential’s Pioneer Dome project to the expanded Mount Marion operations. MinRes also has a sizable stake in Global Lithium, which owns the undeveloped Manna project in the same region.
The MinRes move on Essential came as it studies the possibility of building a lithium hydroxide plant at Kalgoorlie to process spodumene from Mount Marion and other sources.