Australia's Pure Minerals reportedly has entered into an offtake agreement with South Korean company LG Chem for the supply of nickel and cobalt from the Townsville Energy Chemicals Hub (TECH) project, which is wholly-owned by Pure Minerals' subsidiary Queensland Pacific Metals.

LG Chem is the largest diversified chemical company in Korea and a major manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicle and other markets. It is seeking to purchase up to 10,000 tonnes of contained nickel and approximately 1,000t of contained cobalt from TECH, in a combination of mixed hydroxide precipitate and final battery chemical sulfate over a term of up to five years. LG Chem will also consider assisting the project's financing by way of a prepayment.

LG Chem's demand exceeds the capacity of the plant originally considered in the TECH pre-feasibility study released in March, which would have an annual production of approximately 6,000t contained nickel and 650t contained cobalt. Pure Minerals has agreed to evaluate the possibility of increasing the scale of the TECH project to meet the greater demand. This will include provision of LG Chem specification requirements and testing by LG Chem of product samples produced in upcoming pilot plant activities.