Date: Aug 17, 2018
Australia-based Neometals (ASX:NMT) is set to demerge its vanadium–titanium Barrambie asset in Western Australia into a newly listed company, the miner announced on Thursday (August 16).
The new entity, NewCo, will focus on feeding into China, which is experiencing a supply shortage. NewCo will develop the Barrambie project as a direct-shipping ore operation, and will continue to evaluate the use of processing technologies on site to produce high-purity chemicals in the future.
As a result of the demerger, Neometals will be able to increase its focus on the Mount Marion lithium project and the Kalgoorlie processing facility in Western Australia.
“The company has reached an inflection point where both business arms need dedicated management, independent corporate structures and financial resources to realize optimal value,” said Christopher Reed, Neometals’ managing director.
Neometals, which says Mount Marion hosts one of the world’s largest lithium-mining and concentration operations, is currently evaluating the possibility of processing its spodumene offtake rights from the asset into higher-value lithium hydroxide.
The company will also continue to advance its lithium battery recycling project to recover lithium, cobalt and other metal by-products.
