Liontown, Bald Hill lithium deals cement US critical minerals alliance

afr.com:

Australia’s critical minerals alliance with the United States will be bolstered after American giant Albemarle won over the Liontown Resources board with a $6.6 billion offer, and Mineral Resources snatched the Bald Hill mine from the clutches of a Chinese-linked bidder.

The federal government’s desire for “like minded” foreign investors in critical minerals will be put in sharp focus by the two preliminary deals struck on Monday. Albemarle is expected to be spared the sort of resistance from the Foreign Investment Review Board that derailed Austroid Corporation’s attempt to buy Bald Hill.

Albemarle has previously won FIRB approval when it acquired half of MinRes’ Wodgina lithium mine in Western Australia, adding to its stake in the WA Greenbushes mine and its lithium hydroxide plants.

Australia and the US government have moved closer on critical minerals in the past year after President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act declared that battery manufacturers using Australian minerals would be eligible for the same subsidies available to those using American minerals.

The IRA clause is one of several ways the US and Australian governments are collaborating to secure supply of the minerals needed for decarbonisation and defence applications.

Liontown revealed on Monday that Albemarle had improved the non-binding offer it made in March to $3 a share, and it would be endorsed if Albemarle followed through with a binding offer after due diligence.

“The intention of the Liontown board is to unanimously recommend shareholders vote in favour of the proposal in the absence of a superior proposal,” the company said in a statement.

That means major shareholder and chairman Tim Goyder, who owns almost 15 per cent, has decided $3 is