Two lithium deals for Umicore

Umicore has signed separate five-year, renewable lithium supply agreements with two companies, Ganfeng Lithium of Jiangxi, China, and Vulcan Energy Resources of Karlsruhe, Germany. Both are integral to its cathode business and to its own environmental commitment.

The agreement with Ganfeng Lithium will come into effect in 2022 and will cover a significant part of Umicore’s future lithium requirements in Asia. The lithium is mined from hard-rock deposits in Australia under strict sustainability standards.

The second takes effect as of 2025 and will enable Umicore to purchase between 28,000 and 42,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide over the duration of the contract. This will be supplied within the framework of Vulcan’s Zero Carbon Lithium project in Germany, which uses naturally occurring renewable geothermal energy to extract the lithium from a deep brine, emitting no CO2 in the process.