In something out off a bad 90’s action movie, independent contractors of a subsidiary of a car company have been making the lives miserable for executives of an Australian mining company looking for lithium in the California desert.

Tesla

Tesla signs major lithium deal with Australian mining minnow

Australian minnow Liontown Resources has nabbed Elon Musk’s Tesla as a foundation customer for its WA lithium mine in a five-year deal that sent its share price soaring more than 15 per cent.

The deal comes just two months after Liontown raised $450 million to develop the Kathleen Valley lithium mine in WA’s Goldfields region.

Tesla will take lithium spodumene concentrate, an in-demand ingredient for making electric vehicle batteries, for five years from as soon as 2024.

The miner’s share price was up 15.5 per cent to $1.605 a share in early trading on Wednesday.

Korean battery manufacturer LG Energy Solution signed up in January as Liontown’s first customer.

Liontown managing director Tony Ottaviano said securing Tesla was a huge vote of confidence in the project. “This means that we now have two of the premier companies in the global lithium-ion battery and EV space signed up as foundational customers,” he said. – Source

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