Equity Investment and Long-term Supply Agreement Signed
Covering Entire Process from Mining, Smelting, Refining to Transportation and Sales
STX has acquired a stake in a lithium mine in Peru to securely secure and trade lithium, a key material for secondary batteries.
On the 9th, STX announced that it secured a stake in a lithium mine in the Puno region of southeastern Peru and signed an offtake agreement (long-term purchase contract) for the transportation and sale of concentrate (minerals refined to increase purity).
This achievement came two months after signing a business agreement last November for mine development and concentrate trading. Depending on the results of drilling exploration, the offtake proportion can be expanded up to 30%. The lithium reserves of the mine are estimated to be over 1.5 million tons. The scale of the secured stake, investment amount, and contract duration were kept confidential.
Additionally, STX plans to secure competitiveness across the entire supply chain?from lithium mining, refining, purification, transportation, to sales?by negotiating with domestic and international secondary battery manufacturers to establish factories for lithium refining and purification.
With this, STX will be able to stably supply and distribute lithium, following other major resources such as nickel, cobalt, and graphite among the six key minerals.
An STX official explained, "South America, including Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia, is called the 'treasure trove of lithium' as it holds about 60% of the world's lithium reserves (approximately 90 million tons). Through this equity investment, we aim to strengthen the growth engine of the secondary battery business and solidify local procurement capabilities using Peru as a foothold."
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