Minera Salar Blanco, Agrees Strategic Alliance with Mitsui for the Development of Maricunga and Future Developments in Chile

The Alliance includes off-take, funding rights and further strategic collaboration for new lithium developments in Chile

SYDNEY, Australia, May 11, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lithium Power International Limited (ASX: LPI) (“LPI” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that its joint venture company, Minera Salar Blanco S.A. (“MSB”) has entered into a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (the “MOU”) with the Japanese conglomerate Mitsui & Co., Ltd., (“Mitsui”) to set up a strategic alliance to advance the development of the Maricunga project (the “Project”).

The MOU intends to create a partnership on the Project. The MOU also addresses the development of the Chilean lithium industry, by partnering to introduce other leading edge efficient and environmentally friendly technologies for processing.

The strategic alliance includes potential off-take and funding rights for the Stage One of the Project; potential participation, off-take and funding rights for future expansions of the Project, and further strategic collaboration for new developments in Chile, based on new technology related to direct lithium extraction (the “DLE”) currently being studied and tested.

In particular, the parties aim to achieve the following goals as a result of such strategic alliance:

• Off-Take Rights – Mitsui will have the right to purchase up to 15,000 tonnes annually of high purity lithium carbonate battery grade production from the Stage One of the Project for 10 years, extendable for 2 consecutive 5 years periods. The parties will agree on a price structure and terms of the off-take in a later stage, in order to be sufficiently bankable to support’s MSB’s debt funding requirements.
  
  The parties will leverage Mitsui’s considerable global logistics and battery materials marketing expertise on the distribution of the products.

• Right to Participate in Funding of Maricunga’s Stage One – Mitsui will have the right to participate directly in the funding of the Stage One of the Project. The parties will consider an optimized funding structure through a combination of equity-like and debt-like options.
  
  
• Participation in Future Expansions, Off-Take and Funding Rights – Subject to the parties agreeing to a financing proposal where Mitsui provides a relevant portion of the necessary funding of the capital expenditures required for the future expansion of the Project, Mitsui will have the first option for an off-take agreement to purchase a relevant portion of the future production of the expansion.