Australian Miner Pilbara Minerals Signs Large Spodumene Concentrate Deal with Chinese Enterprise

Under the agreement, Pilbara will supply Yahua Lithium Industry with 20,000 to 80,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate in 2024, and then provide 100,000 to 160,000 tonnes each year in the following 2025 and 2026. On March 12th, Pilbara Minerals Limited (ASX: PLS), an Australian lithium mining producer, announced that it has signed a spodumene concentrate underwriting agreement with Yahua Lithium Industry (Ya'an) Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Yahua Lithium Industry"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Yahua Group (002497). According to the agreement, Pilbara will supply Yahua Lithium Industry with 20,000 to 80,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate in 2024, and 100,000 to 160,000 tonnes each in the following years of 2025 and 2026. It is noteworthy that before Yahua Lithium Industry, in 2024, Shengxin Lithium Energy and Ganfeng Lithium had already signed contracts with Pilbara: On February 7th, Shengxin Lithium Energy announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Shengwei Zhiyuan International Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Shengwei International") has signed a "Lithium Concentrate Purchase Agreement" with Pilbara's wholly-owned subsidiary Pilgangoora Operations Pty Ltd. (referred to as "Pilgangoora"). The company will purchase spodumene concentrate from Pilgangoora during the period from 2024 to 2026. According to the agreement, Pilgangoora will supply Shengwei International with 85,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate in 2024, 150,000 tonnes in 2025, and 150,000 tonnes in 2026; the product price will be determined based on a pricing formula agreed upon by both parties. On January 15th, Pilbara announced that it signed an agreement amendment with Ganfeng Lithium, a giant in the Chinese lithium salt industry, and its subsidiary, increasing the supply of spodumene concentrate to Ganfeng Lithium from the previous 160,000 tonnes per year to 310,000 tonnes each year for the next three years. The announcement showed that Pilbara signed a contract with Ganfeng Lithium in 2017 to supply 160,000 tonnes of lithium concentrate per year from its Pilgangoora project. After updating the purchase agreement, Pilbara can supply up to 310,000 tonnes of lithium concentrate to Ganfeng Lithium each year from 2024 to 2026. In addition, according to market information, Pilbara will conduct an auction for approximately 5,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate on March 18th. The starting price has not yet been set. This will be the 14th auction of spodumene concentrate by Pilbara.