Ahead of market expectations, Bacanora Minerals (BCN) this week announced it had secured a deal to supply Japanese trading house Hanwa with the lithium carbonate it plans to produce from the miner's Sonora project in Mexico. The offtake agreement covers between 70 and 100 per cent of the 17,500 tonnes of output Bacanora expects from the first stage of its mining plan in 2019, and up to 100 per cent of stage two production, due two years later.
The deal has been struck in return for a 10 per cent equity stake in Bacanora at Friday's closing price, raising £10.2m for the Aim-traded group to move ahead with construction ahead of schedule. Chief executive Peter Secker said the agreement had been forged after a 15-month process, during which Hanwa sent out samples to a broad range of Asian battery and cathode manufacturers.
