Perth mining company Pilbara mining said the company has received US dollars from two major Chinese customers to help expand its lithium mine project in Western Australia.
Pilgan said on Thursday the funds will be used to expand 120 km of its Pilgangoora lithium mine from Port Hedland to five metric tons per year, from two metric tons.
The company will complete its expansion by March 2020, putting it "firmly on track to become one of the world's leading producers of lithium raw materials," said Ken Brinsden, managing director and CEO of Pilbara Minerals.
"The quality of the products we produce, the huge scale of this resource and the acceleration of production speed mean that Pilgangoora is rapidly being recognized as one of the world's most important new lithium raw materials projects.
Pilbara said it received a $25 m funding commitment from Great Wall Motor, and a $50 m funding commitment from Jiangxi Ganfeng Lithium.
The money, as well as the proposed Nordic bonds and existing cash worth of the US dollar, will be used to fund the dollar expansion of the Pilgangoora mine, which will begin production of lithium pyroxene concentrate in October.
Acid is used to extract lithium from lithium pyroxene and for batteries, ceramics and medicine.
The lithium market is growing by about 12 percentage points per year because of the lithium-
Ion batteries are used to power personal electronics as well as electric and hybrid cars.
"Our major customers have recently visited the site and they obviously like what they see," Brinsden said . ".
They are interested in further expanding the mine so it can produce 7.
There are 5 metric tons of lithium pyroxene per year.
The mine also produces the metal element ta, which is used to consume electronic capacitors.
As Pilgangoora's production increases, pilagi also said on Thursday that it is evaluating the expansion of its planned spodumene processing plant in South Korea, which is jointly owned with South Korean steel-
Posco Corporation
Pilbara stock trading 16.
AEDT rose 1230 to 73 cents.