MILAN, April 28 (Reuters) - Carmaker Stellantis has signed an agreement with Alliance Nickel for the supply of battery grade nickel and cobalt sulphate from
the NiWest project in Western Australia, the two groups said on
Friday.
The deal, the latest struck in Australia by the world's
third largest automaker by revenues, confirms the country as a
core supplier for Stellantis of materials which are key to
producing batteries needed for electrification of vehicles.
It also comes at a time when Chile has announced plans to
nationalise its vast industry for lithium, another metal
essential in batteries, posing questions among electric vehicle
(EV) manufacturers over the stability of future supplies and
prices of battery materials.
Based on the agreement announced on Friday, Stellantis'
binding offtake will amount to 170,000 tons of nickel sulphate
and 12,000 tons of cobalt sulphate in total over an initial
five-year period, representing around 40% of forecast annual
production of the NiWest project.
The Italian-French group will also invest 9.2 million euros
($10.1 million) to get a 11.5% stake in Alliance Nickel. Funds
from the equity purchase will be used to finalise and start the
NiWest project.
Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said the partnership with
Alliance Nickel was an important element of the group's plans,
which "are built on the foundation of a guaranteed supply of key
materials for our battery electric vehicles".
Stellantis, formed in 2021 through the merger of Fiat
Chrysler and Peugeot maker PSA, has already reached deals for
battery materials with McEwen Copper, Terrafame, Vulcan Energy,
Element 25 and Controlled Thermal Resources.
The automaker and Alliance Nickel had already signed in
October last year a non-binding, preliminary agreement for the
supply of EV battery materials.
($1 = 0.9088 euros)
(Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari
Editing by Keith Weir)
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