Ganfeng Lithium to acquire 49% stake in China Minmetals' Yiliping for 1.47B yuan

China's Ganfeng Lithium Co. Ltd. said March 8 that its board approved a plan to acquire a 49% equity interest in Yiliping, a lithium salt lake project in the northwestern province of Qinghai operated by the nonferrous metals unit of state-owned China Minmetals Corp., for 1.47 billion Chinese yuan.

The project, located in the Tibetan Plateau's Qaidam Basin, has a mining license that will expire in 2028 for 10,000 tonnes per year of minerals, including lithium ore, boron rock and potassium ore.

The transaction will be completed via Ganfeng's acquisition of 100% equity interest in Ili Hongda Foundation Equity Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership) from three parties, namely Citic Securities, Tibet Hongda New Energy Technology Co. Ltd. and an executive partner of the project. After the transaction, China Minmetals will still hold a 51% controlling stake in the project.

Ganfeng said that the project mainly produces lithium carbonate, potassium chloride and other products from lithium-enriched brine, which can be used in raw materials of lithium batteries and agricultural fertilizer.

According to S&P Global Market Intelligence data, Ganfeng was the world's sixth-largest lithium company by production in 2019.

As of March 8, US$1 was equivalent to 6.53 Chinese yuan.