Glencore Strikes Strategic Agreement with Tantalex
The Canadian company Tantalex Lithium Resources operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Glencore concluded a memorandum of understanding at the end of last week according to which Glencore will have to partly finance the development of its lithium residue project in Manono.
Under the terms of the memorandum of understanding, Glencore must obtain, in exchange for financing, the right to purchase and market the lithium that will be produced at Manono.
And the funding itself will be divided into three tranches. A first of 2 million USD and a second of 3 million USD as well as the last tranche covering the financing of one third of the capital expenditure required for the project, subject to a certain number of conditions.
Specialists indicate that if the negotiations are conclusive, this would be the first investment of the Swiss mining group in Congolese lithium while it is already present in the country on two other minerals essential to the energy transition, in this case the copper and cobalt.
According to estimates, the capital required for the development of the project would be 150 million USD. This implies that Glencore’s investment in the project totals approximately US$55 million.
