Zijin Mining, one of China’s largest gold and copper producers has acquired Neo Lithium Corporation for $770 million in a bid to carve out a stable supply chain for the future. This comes as the latest in a slew of Chinese companies investing heavily in new energy minerals. Earlier this year, Chinese battery producer Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL) bought Canada’s Millenial Lithium Corp for $297.3 million, outbidding Ganfeng Lithium for the acquisition. CATL holds an 8% stake in Neo Lithium Corp, having invested earlier this year. Though Neo Lithium Corp is not ready to produce lithium in acommercial capacity, the race to secure supply is well underway – lithium, alongside copper and nickel are critical materials needed for the development and production of electric vehicles, with the price of lithium carbonate in China at an all-time high. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Christopher Perrella notes that of the five companies currently dominating the $4 billion global lithium market, two are Chinese-owned, and Perrella expects the trend of high lithium valuation and investment by Chinese companies to continue.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/millennial-lithi-ma-catl-idUSL4N2QU467 and https://www.mining.com/web/lithium-deal-shows-chinas-accelerating-race-for-battery-metals/