The Australian write up on Birimian, page-12

Rise of electric cars accelerates race for lithium assets
Sale of west African mineral deposit illustrates desire among Chinese battery makers



Lithium-producing salt flats in Bolivia © Kseniya Ragozina/Dreamstime


A scramble for lithium assets is emerging after an Australian-listed miner sold a deposit in west Africa to a Chinese buyer for almost 2,000 times what it paid less than a year ago.

Exploration company Birimian announced on Monday a deal to sell its Bougouni Lithium project in southern Mali for $78m in cash to Shandong Mingrui Group. It acquired the project from a “local vendor” for just $40,000 in February, according to its annual report.
The purchase by Shandong Mingrui is a further indication of the desire of Chinese companies to buy lithium deposits as the world’s largest electric car market expands its production of lithium-ion batteries, the dominant battery technology in pure electric vehicles.
In another sign of interest in lithium assets, Galaxy Resources, an Australian-listed lithium producer, halted trading in its shares on Tuesday after reports that the company may sell up to 40 per cent in its $1.4bn Sal de Vida lithium project in Argentina.
Galaxy Resources said it was considering the various development options for its assets, including the Sal de Vida. Shares in the company, which also owns the Mt Cattlin lithium project in Western Australia, rose 357 per cent last year.
Almost 70 per cent of new lithium-ion battery cell production capacity is being built in China, according to London-based Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.
“[The Bougouni sale] serves to illustrate the determination of Chinese groups to lock up as much lithium as possible as the race for electric vehicle domination hots up,” said analysts at Investec.
The sale comes as prices for lithium continue to rise on the back of investor interest and strong demand for the battery material from electric cars and buses. The auto sector is expected to consume 24 per cent of total lithium output by 2020 from around 7 per cent in 2015, according to Goldman Sachs.