Electric vehicle (EV) giant Tesla recently sent a notice to Australian mining company Core Lithium, threatening the latter with legal action following the failure of a supply agreement made last year.
In a presentation made on Wednesday, August 16th, Core Lithium officials announced that the Elon Musk-led automotive firm advised them that a lawsuit would ensue unless both parties can resolve issues regarding the agreement which should have been finalized on October 26, 2022.
According to the stipulations of the said agreement which was signed in March 2022, Core Lithium was supposed to supply Tesla with around 110,000 tons of lithium-rich spodumene by last October. The said mineral was to come from the mining firm’s Finniss initiative in the Australian Northern Territory.
Legal experts pointed out that this aspect of the agreement was binding.
Not the Only One
While neither Core Lithium nor Tesla have made further comments about the issue as of press time, industry insiders pointed out that the former was not the only Australian firm that the automaker made a deal with over the past year.
On February 15th last year, Tesla also entered a five-year agreement with Liontown Resources. In this deal, Liontown is expected to supply the EV maker with 100,000 dry metric tons (DMT) of spodumene concentrate by 2024, increasing the amount to 150,000 DMT over the next four years.
Global Rush
Interestingly, Liontown also entered an agreement with American automotive maker Ford just four months after signing off with Tesla. In this agreement, the Australian firm would supply Ford with 150,000 DMT of spodumene per annum over a five year period.
Both Tesla’s and Ford’s contracts with mining companies are part of the global rush in the automotive sector to secure their respective shares of lithium for the production of rechargeable EV batteries.
