Australia’s Piedmont Lithium signs ore supply agreement with Tesla

(Reuters) – Australian lithium miner Piedmont Lithium said on Monday it signed an agreement with U.S. electric carmaker Tesla Inc to supply high purity lithium ore mineral from its deposits in North Carolina for an initial five-year term.

Under the agreement, Tesla will procure about one-third of Piedmont’s planned production of 160,000 tonnes per annum of spodumene concentrate, high-purity lithium ore mineral for the initial five years, the miner said in a statement.

(Reporting by Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Kim Coghill)