Stellantis N.V. and GME Resources Limited today announced the signing of a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) for the future sale of quantities of battery-grade nickel and cobalt sulphate products from the NiWest Nickel-Cobalt Project in Western Australia (“NiWest”).
NiWest is an advanced nickel-cobalt development project and will produce approximately 90,000 tpa (tons per annum) of battery-grade nickel and cobalt sulphate for the burgeoning electric vehicle market. To date, more than AU$30 million has been invested into drilling, metallurgical test work, and development studies. A Definitive Feasibility Study for NiWest is due to commence this month. The proposed location of the processing facility for NiWest is within approximately 30 kilometers of Glencore-owned Murrin Murrin operation, the largest nickel-cobalt operation in Australia.
“Every day, Stellantis is working to provide our customers clean, safe affordable, cutting-edge freedom of mobility,” said Maxime Picat, Stellantis’s Chief Purchasing and Supply Chain Officer. “Securing the raw material sources and battery supply will strengthen Stellantis’ value chain for electric vehicle battery production and equally important, help the Company achieve its aggressive decarbonization target.”
As part of the Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan, Stellantis announced plans of reaching 100% of the passenger car battery electric vehicle (BEV) sales mix in Europe and 50% of passenger car and light-duty truck BEV sales mix in the United States by 2030. Stellantis will be the industry champion in climate change mitigation, becoming carbon net zero by 2038, with a 50% reduction by 2030.
“Stellantis is a partner of the highest caliber and GME is delighted to have signed this MOU in what we hope is the first step in a long-term partnership,” said GME Managing Director, Paul Kopejtka. “We’re very pleased with how our discussions have progressed and we now look forward to progressing more detailed negotiations in parallel with the start of the Definitive Feasibility Study for the NiWest Nickel-Cobalt Project. A Definitive Agreement with Stellantis would be a critical step in being able to progress the NiWest Project through to commercial operations.”
Stellantis strengthened its supply of low-carbon lithium hydroxide earlier this year, signing agreements with Vulcan Energy and Controlled Thermal Resources for Europe and North America, respectively.
