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follows Tesla playbook with Liontown lithium deal","ford-follows-tesla-playbook-with-liontown-lithium-deal","article/ford-follows-tesla-playbook-with-liontown-lithium-deal",{"_uid":557,"date":558,"tags":559,"editor":560,"content":570,"excerpt":674,"featured":50,"reporter":675,"_editable":679,"component":680,"seo_title":553,"categories":681,"visibility":687,"author_company":49,"featured_image":688,"seo_description":674,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":693,"formattedArticleDate":694},"d190958d-d63c-4845-b6fa-56d115a3c785","2022-06-29 00:00",[],[561],{"slug":562,"name":563,"content":564},"didi-bostock","Didi Bostock",{"job_title":565,"image":566,"bio":568,"linkedin":569},"Editor - Energy Transition & Economics",{"filename":567},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/512x512/2c5ca5c1a3/didi-bostock.jpeg","Didi is the Energy Transition & Economics Editor at Benchmark, covering a broad range of markets across the energy transition. His remit spans from downstream sectors such as BESS and EVs, through to midstream such as new technologies and battery production, to upstream critical minerals mining. He also leads on financial analysis across these supply chains, alongside in-depth policy analysis.\n","https://www.linkedin.com/in/didi-bostock-656342198/",{"type":571,"content":572},"doc",[573,590,595,600,605,612,617,622,627,632,637,642,654,659,664,669],{"type":574,"attrs":575,"content":576},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[577,580,588],{"text":578,"type":579},"Ford has agreed to help fund and also buy lithium from a proposed mine in Australia, four months after a ","text",{"text":581,"type":579,"marks":582},"similiar deal",[583],{"type":584,"attrs":585},"link",{"href":586,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":587},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/tesla-taps-australia-for-future-lithium-supply-as-prices-hit-record-highs","url",{"text":589,"type":579}," by Tesla, in a sign the auto industry is becoming increasingly concerned about supplies of the battery raw material.",{"type":574,"attrs":591,"content":592},{"textAlign":49},[593],{"text":594,"type":579},"Ford said it would buy a total of 650,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate over five years and also lend A$300 million ($207 million) to Australian-listed Liontown Resources, helping to fund the construction of the Kathleen Valley mine in Western Australia.",{"type":574,"attrs":596,"content":597},{"textAlign":49},[598],{"text":599,"type":579},"The deal is the second by a western automaker this month, following an agreement by Stellantis to invest 50 million euros ($52 million) for a stake in Vulcan Energy, which is developing a geothermal lithium project in Germany.",{"type":574,"attrs":601,"content":602},{"textAlign":49},[603],{"text":604,"type":579},"“The agreements highlight increasing efforts by automakers to be actively involved in securing battery raw materials supply to meet their electrification ambitions,” Daisy Jennings-Gray, an analyst at Benchmark, said.",{"type":606,"attrs":607,"content":609},"heading",{"level":608,"textAlign":49},4,[610],{"text":611,"type":579},"Catching up with Tesla",{"type":574,"attrs":613,"content":614},{"textAlign":49},[615],{"text":616,"type":579},"Ford plans to spend $50 billion on electric vehicles between now and 2026 as it looks to catch up to Tesla, the market leader.",{"type":574,"attrs":618,"content":619},{"textAlign":49},[620],{"text":621,"type":579},"“Ford continues working to source more deeply into the battery supply chain to meet our goals of delivering more than 2 million EVs annually for our customers by 2026,” Lisa Drake, Ford’s vice president of EV Industrialization, said. “This is one of several agreements we’re working on to help us secure raw materials to support our plan to deliver EVs for customers around the world and meet our environmental, social and governance commitments.”",{"type":574,"attrs":623,"content":624},{"textAlign":49},[625],{"text":626,"type":579},"The deal comes as Benchmark forecasts the lithium sector is set to be short of supply for the next few years. Battery-grade lithium carbonate prices in China have risen by over 400% over the past year, adding costs to battery producers. They last traded at around RMB 469,000 a tonne ($69,875), according to Benchmark’s Lithium Price Assessment.",{"type":574,"attrs":628,"content":629},{"textAlign":49},[630],{"text":631,"type":579},"The high prices are already encouraging producers to increase supply. This week Pilbara Minerals said it would produce an additional 100,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate to meet demand.",{"type":606,"attrs":633,"content":634},{"level":608,"textAlign":49},[635],{"text":636,"type":579},"Funding secured",{"type":574,"attrs":638,"content":639},{"textAlign":49},[640],{"text":641,"type":579},"Liontown’s Kathleen Valley mine is set to start production in the second quarter of 2024 and produce 500,000 tonnes a year of 6% spodumene concentrate, rising to 700,000 tonnes a year in 2029.",{"type":574,"attrs":643,"content":644},{"textAlign":49},[645,647,652],{"text":646,"type":579},"Ford’s deal follows closely in the ",{"text":648,"type":579,"marks":649},"footsteps of Tesla",[650],{"type":584,"attrs":651},{"href":586,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":587},{"text":653,"type":579},", which signed its own agreement with Liontown in February for a total of 700,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate from the mine over a five year period starting in 2024.",{"type":574,"attrs":655,"content":656},{"textAlign":49},[657],{"text":658,"type":579},"Including a prior supply agreement with LG Energy Solution, 90% of Kathleen Valley’s planned production is committed under offtake agreements for the first five years, Liontown said.",{"type":574,"attrs":660,"content":661},{"textAlign":49},[662],{"text":663,"type":579},"Ford said it will buy 75,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate in the first year, rising to 125,000 tonnes in the second year and 150,000 for the final three years.",{"type":574,"attrs":665,"content":666},{"textAlign":49},[667],{"text":668,"type":579},"Liontown said that along with its A$463 million capital raise in December, it was fully funded to begin construction of the mine. It revised the construction costs upwards from A$473 million to A$545 million, in part due to “general cost escalation.”",{"type":574,"attrs":670,"content":671},{"textAlign":49},[672],{"text":673,"type":579},"“We remain on track to deliver first spodumene concentrate by the second quarter 2024,” Tony Ottaviano, Liontown’s chief executive, said.","Ford has agreed to help fund and also buy lithium from a proposed mine in Australia, four months after a similiar deal by Tesla, in a sign the auto industry is becoming increasingly concerned about supplies of the battery raw material. Ford said it would buy a total of 650,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate over […]",[676],{"slug":562,"name":563,"content":677},{"job_title":565,"image":678,"bio":568,"linkedin":569},{"filename":567},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"d190958d-d63c-4845-b6fa-56d115a3c785\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[682,685],{"slug":683,"name":684},"critical-minerals","Critical Minerals",{"slug":686,"name":8},"lithium","private",{"id":49,"alt":689,"name":689,"focus":689,"title":689,"source":689,"filename":690,"copyright":689,"fieldtype":691,"meta_data":692,"is_external_url":51},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/20a9724b6b/bm-2022-ford-f-150-lightning-alaska-bft-testing-031-1.jpg","asset",{"alt":689,"title":689,"source":689,"copyright":689},"Jun 29, 2022","29th June 2022",[],[],1789982591419]