Australia’s Neometals Ltd on Thursday signed a preliminary deal with German metallurgical equipment supplier SMS Group GmbH to commercialize the miner’s lithium-ion battery recycling technology.
Under the terms of the agreement, Neometals and SMS Group will form an equally-owned joint venture which will further develop, manage and operate Neometals’ lithium-ion recycling business.
Setting up of the joint venture will follow a period, during which the German firm will evaluate results of the technology being used at a pilot plant in Canada.
The agreement come at a time when industry executives expect Australian lithium miners to recover from weaker demand and plummeting prices in the middle of next year.
Earlier this month, Neometals had signed a deal with a Chinese research organization to develop its Barrambie titanium-vanadium project in Western Australia.
Source: Reuters.com