China’s Jiangxi Jinhui Lithium has taken delivery of its first 30,000-tonne tranche of lithium concentrate for processing under an off-take deal with an African company.
Jinhui said the shipment from Namibian lithium developer Desert Lion Energy will be processed in China.
Desert Lion, which is building Namibia’s first large-scale lithium mine, expects to deliver an additional 60,000 tonnes of lithium concentrate from its sorting operations by the end of the third quarter of this year.
The Namibia project is situated about 120 kilometres northwest of the country’s capital city of Windhoek. The project is a high-grade asset linked with the country’s Rubicon lithium and Helikon lithium mines, near Karibib.
Last month, Jinhui was granted a 60-day extension on an option to purchase 15% of Desert Lion.
Chinese firms have been busy shoring up supplies of raw materials to support the country’s drive to dominate batteries production— and cater for the expanding electric vehicles market.
BEST Battery Briefing reported earlier this year that China’s largest lithium compounds producer, Ganfeng Lithium, was looking to raise $1 billion from an initial public offering in Hong Kong to expand its battery-related businesses.
