Ford secures lithium with Liontown Resources
Ford has signed a binding off-take agreement for lithium with Australian company Liontown Resources. The five-year contract provides for the supply of lithium-spodumene concentrate from the Kathleen Valley project in Western Australia from 2024.
Ford has agreed to provide Liontown Resources with 300 million Australian dollars (around 197 million euros) in financing for the development of the lithium project.
The agreement should cover the lithium supply of 75,000 tonnes in the first year, 125,000 tonnes in the second year and 150,000 tonnes in years three to five. Kathleen Valley is a new lithium development project located 680km northeast of Perth in Western Australia’s primary mining region. Liontown Resources points out that the Kathleen Valley project Project also has more than 60% renewable power supply planned at start-up. The mine owners say they have secured “a strong working relationship with the Traditional Owners of the land (the Tjiwarl).”
Ford’s agreement with Liontown is the lithium provider’s third and final foundational offtake required to underpin the development of Kathleen Valley. The company says this “marks the culmination of the disciplined execution of its offtake strategy.” The lithium mining company says the final development costs of Kathleen Valley have now been covered with this last piece of strategic investment and a separate Funding Facility under which a Ford subsidiary will provide a A$300 million debt facility to Liontown.
Liontown already signed a supply contract with Tesla in February this year. Together with an additional order from LG Energy Solution in May, Liontown has now signed off-take agreements for a total of 450,000 tonnes of lithium spodumene concentrate per year.
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