{"id":1185197,"date":"2020-05-19T06:46:58","date_gmt":"2020-05-19T11:46:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1024253"},"modified":"2020-05-19T06:46:58","modified_gmt":"2020-05-19T11:46:58","slug":"tianqi-lithium-6-stake-up-for-sale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1185197","title":{"rendered":"Tianqi Lithium 6% stake up for sale"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>China\u2019s Tianqi Lithium Corp., the<br \/>\ncountry\u2019s top producer of the battery metal, said on Monday that its<br \/>\ncontrolling investor had put a sixth of its holding up for sale.<\/p>\n<div class='ad-slot' id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {    googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');    googletag.pubads().addEventListener('slotRenderEnded', function (event) {        if (event.isEmpty) {            var id = event.slot.getSlotElementId();            var x = document.getElementById(id);            if(x == null) return;            if (x.parentElement.classList.contains('ad-slot')) {                x.parentElement.style.display = 'none';            }\t\t\t\t        }    });});<\/script><\/div>\n<p>The move, the Shenzhen-listed lithium miner said, seeks to raise much needed cash to <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/chinas-top-lithium-miner-struggles-to-pay-6-billion-debt\/\" >pay back debt&nbsp;the company racked up<\/a> in an ambitious expansion overseas over the past two years.<\/p>\n<p>Chengdu Tianqi Industry Group, which holds 36.04% in Tianqi Lithium, could raise more than $200 million in much-needed cash with the move, according to a <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"http:\/\/www.szse.cn\/English\/disclosures\/announcements\/\" >filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange<\/a>. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote alignright\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>Tianqi Lithium is due to repay in November a total of $2.2 billion to Citic Bank.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The sale will see the parent<br \/>\ncompany offloading up to 88.6-million shares, or 6% of the company&#8217;s stock,<br \/>\nfrom July 3 and within a six-month timeframe.<\/p>\n<p>Chengdu plans to sell up to 2% via<br \/>\ncompetitive bidding. As much as 4% will be sold via a block trade, the filing<br \/>\nsays, at prices that are yet to be determined.<\/p>\n<p>The company will remain Tianqi\u2019s<br \/>\ncontrolling shareholder after the sale, which will not impact the lithium miner\u2019s<br \/>\nstructure or&nbsp;operations, the filing said.<\/p>\n<p>Prices for lithium carbonate have dropped by more than 70% since 2018, when Tianqi acquired about a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/chinas-tianqi-lithium-buys-minority-stake-sqm-4-07bn\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">quarter of Chilean miner SQM for $4.1 billion<\/a>. The move was part of an aggressive global expansion aimed at securing a leadership in the lithium market. The plan succeeded in putting China in a dominant position just as sales of electric vehicles (EVs) took off.<\/p>\n<p>Tianqi Lithium said in April it was mulling options to pay back some of it debt, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/chinas-top-lithium-miner-eyes-stake-sales-as-losses-deepens\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">pegged at over $6 billion<\/a>. Among the measures, the miner said it was exploring a partial sale of its stake in Greenbushes mine in Western Australia, the world\u2019s largest hard-rock lithium operation.<\/p>\n<p>Albemarle (NYSE: ALB), the world\u2019s top producer of the white metal, revealed last week its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/albemarle-eyes-tianqis-stake-in-worlds-largest-lithium-mine\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">interest in all or part of Tianqi\u2019s stake in Greenbushes<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Market challenges<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Tianqi is not the only lithium<br \/>\nmajor struggling as a result of the collapse in lithium prices.<\/p>\n<p>SQM, the world\u2019s second-largest<br \/>\nproducer of the metal,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/worlds-no-2-lithium-miner-sqm-hit-by-weak-prices-demand\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">has pushed back a key expansion<\/a>&nbsp;at its Atacama salt<br \/>\nflat operations from the end of 2020 to late 2021.<\/p>\n<p>Canadian lithium miner Nemaska<br \/>\nLithium (TSX: NMX), which was backed by Japan\u2019s SoftBank,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/nemaska-lithium-goes-bankrup-first-victim-of-market-glut\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">filed for&nbsp;bankruptcy&nbsp;protection<\/a>&nbsp;in December.<\/p>\n<p>Albemarle has also had to adjust plans. It\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/albemarle-puts-the-break-on-growing-plans-amid-lithium-market-weakness\/\" >postponed last year a project to add about 125,000 tonnes<\/a>\u00a0of processing capacity. It also revised a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/mineral-resources-signs-1-15b-lithium-deal-albemarle\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">deal to buy into Australia\u2019s Mineral Resources<\/a>\u2019 (ASX: MIN) Wodgina lithium mine and said it would delay building 75,000 tonnes of processing capacity at Kemerton, also in Australia.<\/p>\n<p>The lithium giant showed&nbsp;further<br \/>\nsigns of distress in early May. It cut its 2020 budget and pulled its annual<br \/>\nforecast amid the global spread of the coronavirus.<\/p>\n<p>That was the first concrete signs that the lithium industry is beginning to feel the pain of falling EVs sales, which are projected to slide further for the rest of the year due in part to shutdowns affecting carmakers. <\/p>\n<p>Before the pandemic, the main factor behind the price slump was an\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/lithium-prices-to-remain-low-as-hype-has-met-reality-cru\/\" >avalanche of new supply<\/a>. The glut was triggered mainly by mine expansions and a cut in government subsidies for purchasers of EVs in China, the world\u2019s largest market. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Move by Chengdu Tianqi Industry Group, which holds 36.04% in the lithium miner, seeks to shore up finances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2849,949,369,2640],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1185197"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1185197"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1185197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1185199,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1185197\/revisions\/1185199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1185197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1185197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1185197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}