Tesla inked a deal with Australia’s Core Lithium in March, and the company is now officially getting ready to send its first mineral shipment out to the electric automaker.
Future Tesla supplier Core Lithium Ltd. is expecting its Finniss, Australia project to have the first shipment of minerals out by the end of this year, according to Bloomberg.
The project in Finniss, located near Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, has been “progressing well,” according to Core Lithium, which also said it has accelerated “with the arrival of the dry season and the commissioning of an additional excavator and trucks to site.”
The project will supply a lithium-bearing material called spodumene concentrate to companies including Tesla, and to China’s Gangeng Lithium Co. and Sichuan Yahua Industrial Group Co.
Stellantis Secures California Lithium for EV Production in North America https://t.co/efwpA9OqVo
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Tesla is set to receive 110,000 tons of the spodumene concentrate over the course of four years.
Core Lithium has also confirmed other offtake agreements with fellow lithium miners like Australia’s Liontown Resources — which is expecting to supply Tesla with lithium starting in 2024.
Lithium has had a price rally of nearly 500 percent in the last year, making it extremely lucrative for miners amidst the electric vehicle boom.
Tesla also announced potential plans to get into lithium mining if the cost continues to skyrocket.
