(Kitco News) - ioneer (NASDAQ: IONR), an emerging lithium–boron supplier, announced today it has signed a binding offtake supply agreement with Ford Motor Company.
Under the agreement, ioneer will deliver 7,000 tonnes per annum of lithium carbonate from its Rhyolite Ridge project in Nevada to Ford over a 5-year term, starting in 2025. This represents approximately 34% of annual output in the first 5 years of production.
The company said that Ford intends to utilize ioneer's lithium carbonate to produce batteries for use in Ford electric vehicles through BlueOval SK, the Ford-SK On battery manufacturing joint venture.
ioneer is expected to produce an annual average of approximately 20,600 tonnes of lithium carbonate/hydroxide along with approximately 174,400 tonnes of boric acid per year over the Rhyolite Ridge project’s 26-year life.
According to a press-release, this agreement follows the earlier signing of an offtake agreement representing approximately 34% of ioneer’s annual lithium carbonate production from Rhyolite Ridge in the first three years of operation.
ioneer Ltd is the 100% owner of the Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron project located in Nevada, USA, the only known lithium-boron deposit in North America and one of only two known such deposits in the world.
The company said that the definitive feasibility study completed in 2020 confirmed Rhyolite Ridge as a world-class lithium and boron project that is expected to become a globally significant, long-life, low-cost source of lithium and boron vital to a sustainable future.
In September 2021, ioneer entered a 50/50 joint venture agreement with Sibanye Stillwater to advance the Rhyolite Ridge project and signed a separate offtake agreement with Korea’s EcoPro Innovation in 2021. ioneer will be the operator of the project, which is expected to come onstream in 2025.
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