Kidman is the first Australian company to sign such an agreement with Tesla. Image: Kidman Resources.
BY CAMERON DRUMMOND
LITHIUM developer Kidman Resources is the first Australian miner to sign an offtake agreement with Elon Musk’s Tesla.
Kidman entered into a binding agreement to supply lithium hydroxide to the electric vehicle maker over an initial three year term on a fixed price, take-or-pay basis.
Kidman and Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile (SQM), under their Western Australia Lithium (WAL) 50:50 joint venture, are building a lithium hydroxide plant in Kwinana, south of Perth, to process spodumene concentrate from their Mt Holland hard rock lithium project.
According to Kidman, the Tesla offtake deal equates to less than 25 per cent of Kidman’s proportion of output from the proposed 44,000tpa refinery.
Other commercial terms of the agreement were strictly confidential.
The agreement follows a 4 May announcement that WAL had entered into an exclusive option to lease a site for the processing facility in the Kwinana Strategic Industrial Area.
“In addition to the agreement with Tesla, Kidman is in discussions with other strategic, globally significant parties also seeking refined lithium offtake,” the company said in a statement.
“To date, expressions of interest from these parties have materially exceeded Kidman’s portion of initial refinery nameplate production.
“Kidman is currently targeting to enter into a limited number of offtake agreements, while leaving a minority portion of future supply uncontracted.”
