Tesla orders lithium from Core
Tesla is procuring more lithium in Australia. After Liontown, the US carmaker will also purchase lithium from the Australian lithium producer Core Lithium from 2023. Tesla is thus further securing its battery production.
After Tesla recently signed a five-year contract with the Australian company Liontown Resources for the supply of lithium-spodumene concentrate, the Australian lithium producer Core Lithium has now also announced an agreement with Tesla. The agreement provides for the supply of up to 110,000 tonnes of lithium-spodumene concentrate to Tesla over a period of four years starting in 2023.
The material is to be mined in the Finniss project in the Australian Northern Territory. Tesla would thus be one of the first customers to purchase spodumene concentrate from the mine: The first mining is planned for the fourth quarter of 2022, Tesla is then to be supplied from the second half of 2023.
However, this is still only an agreement, also known as a “term sheet”. In it, both parties give themselves until 27 August 2022 to negotiate the details and sign a final purchase agreement. Once this is done, deliveries can start on 31 July 2023, according to Core’s announcement.
Another customer of Core Lithium is the Chinese company Ganfeng. Incidentally, Tesla had reportedly signed another framework agreement for the supply of lithium hydroxide with Ganfeng in November 2021, but exact delivery quantities were not specified at the time.
In September 2020, Tesla had also signed an agreement with Piedmont Lithium for spodumene concentrate mined in North Carolina. In summer 2021, however, it became known that the start of deliveries planned for summer 2022 would be delayed indefinitely. Tesla has also secured access to other battery materials such as nickel through other agreements.
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