PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Lithium miner Altura Mining has inked a cornerstone investment framework agreement with unlisted Zinciferous that provides the company with the potential to participate in downstream lithium processing at a newly constructed facility in China.

Zinciferous holds an option to acquire an 80% interest in the Tianyuan lithium carbonate plant, along with certain spodumene concentrate supply and lithium chemical offtake rights.

The 6 000 t/y lithium carbonate plant was constructed in 2018 and has been permitted for expansion to 12 000 t/y of lithium carbonate. The plant has been cold commissioned and is awaiting spodumene concentrate to be supplied for hot commissioning, and for the start of commercial production.

Zinciferous could earn an initial 15% stake in project holder Tianyuan Lithium Materials Hebei, along with the right to 100% of the lithium chemical production from the plant, by investing A$4-million, which will be used to hot commission the plant.

The unlisted Australian company could then increase its stake in the project to 50% by investing a further A$5-million for working capital and supplying 9 000 t of spodumene concentrate with a minimum 5.5% lithium oxide grade.

Zinciferous could increase this shareholding to 80% by funding production expansions to a minimum of 20 000 t/y of lithium carbonate equivalent.

Under the deal struck with Altura, the two companies have now agreed to negotiate a potential cornerstone investment which will include an investment of up to A$3-million, which will have an issue price equal to a proposed capital raising by Zinciferous, with Altura’s investment to be subject to internal approvals and third-party consent.

The investment would also be subject to a due diligence by Altura.

Altura MD James Brown on Wednesday welcomed the investment opportunity, which he said could lead to downstream processing exposure and further lithium concentrate offtakes.

“We continue to focus on diversifying our offtake partner base, improving production efficiency and delivering high-quality lithium concentrate into the market.”

Altura earlier this week welcomed a A$22.4-million investment from shareholder Ningbo Shanshan, which increased its stake in the company from 11.8% to 19.4%.