Rio hunts in the outback for lithium
Rio Tinto will redouble efforts to find hard rock lithium in the Western Australian outback, after confirming it would extend an exploration partnership near the town of Sandstone for the third time in two years.
Rio Tinto chief executive Jakob Stausholm has made no secret of the miner’s desire to increase exposure to the battery material.
Rio Tinto chief executive Jakob Stausholm. Bloomberg
Rio finalised the $US825 million ($1.2 billion) acquisition of the Rincon project – near Orocobre’s flagship Olaroz operations – in Argentina last year. The Ango-Australian mining major already produces lithium from waste rock at a Californian mine, and last year entered into partnership with Canadian spodumene producers in the Canadian province of Quebec.
And despite having its licences revoked in 2022, Rio has not given up hope for its $US2.4 billion plan to build Europe’s biggest lithium mine in Serbia’s Jadar Valley.
On Tuesday, ASX-listed lithium hopeful Everest Metals told investors that Rio Tinto Exploration, a subsidiary of Rio, will commence a drilling program to assess reserves at its Rover Project, located near Sandstone.
Shares in the ASX minnow rallied 11 per cent to 25¢ on the news. Rio’s subsiduary signed a binding term sheet with Everest in March 2021, where the mining major paid the junior explorer an initial $25,000 for 6 months of exclusive exploration for non-gold minerals. Then in October 2022, Rio took an 80 per cent interest in the venture and shelled out $5 million for further exploration.
Overnight, Rio also signed a deal with Canada’s Azimut Exploration to potentially sell a stake in its Corvet and Kaanaayaa lithium properties in exchange for funding from the Australian mining major for development on those
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