COMMODITIES AUST 4Jan Birimian sells lithium project to Chinese...

COMMODITIES AUST 4Jan
Birimian sells lithium project to Chinese for $107.5m

China’s appetite for all things lithium has continued into 2017 after Chinese interests pounced on an Australian-owned lithium deposit in West Africa with a $107.5 million cash offer. Little-known exploration play Birimian said yesterday it had signed a letter of intent to sell its Bougouni lithium project in Mali to Shandong Mingrui Group. The offer, which requires the payment of a $10.75m deposit by January 20, comfortably eclipses Birimian’s market capitalisation of $60.6m before the news.

Should Birimian consummate the offer, it would cap a meteoric rise for the company. Its shares have surged by 421 per cent over the past 12 months amid broader investor interest in the lithium boom. China is the world’s biggest consumer of lithium, which it manufactures into batteries.

Forecast growth in demand for electric vehicles is expected to drive a surge in demand for lithium and lithium-ion batteries.
.........
Meanwhile, local lithium leader Galaxy Resources said it had loaded its first shipment of lithium concentrate from its Mount Cattlin mine in the south of Western Australia. The shipment of about 10,000 tonnes of lithium concentrate is worth about $US6 million ($8.3m) and is bound for the Lianyungang port in China.

“This is an exciting day for Galaxy and, for our customers, it marks another major achievement and signals Galaxy’s formal transition back to producer status, elevating it into the ranks of global lithium-producing companies,” Galaxy managing director Anthony Tse said in a statement. Galaxy was the best-performed stock in the ASX 200 index last year.