Australian producer Core Lithium has scrapped a spodumene offtake deal with Chinese producer Ganfeng Lithium, freeing up future production from its now-dormant Finniss mine, in Australia's Northern Territory, for spot sales.
Core previously committed to providing the Chinese producer with 75,000 t/yr of spodumene for four years, it said on 25 September, adding that it paid Ganfeng $2mn to end the deal.
The two companies signed the binding offtake agreement in 2021. Core then shipped its first batch of spodumene under the deal in August 2023, before placing the Finniss mine into care and maintenance in mid-2024.
Core's termination of its deal with Ganfeng comes after the Australian producer scrapped a similar 75,000 t/yr spodumene offtake deal with Chinese lithium producer Yahua for $2mn in May.
The company continues to advance plans to restart the Finniss project, at a production rate of 205,000 t/yr of spodumene, on a 6pc basis. It needs $175mn-200mn to reopen the plant and is talking to potential funders, but has not announced any restart timeline yet.
All future Finniss production is now available for project partners or spot sales, Core said. This could help Core to raise additional capital to fund its restart plan.
Core's termination of its deal with Ganfeng comes during a period of lithium price volatility. Argus' lithium concentrate (spodumene) 6pc Li2O cif China price rose from $770/t on 24 June to $1010/t on 19 August because of a production pause at Chinese producer CATL's Jianxiawo mine in east China's Jiangxi province on 11 August.
But the price fell to $830/t on 23 September, when it was last assessed, on the back of a rumoured restart of the Jianxiawo mine.
