Lithium insights: Interactive map of recent offtake deals

As electric vehicle uptake continues to rise, car companies and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are forging new relationships with miners for supplies of lithium needed in EVs. Governments are also providing funds to advance these projects.

This interactive infographic shows some of the offtake deals that have been signed with automakers, OEMs and governments. Most of the agreements source lithium supplies directly from the brine or hard rock projects in Canada, the U.S., Chile, Argentina, Germany, Ghana and Australia. The effective periods of the agreements range from a few years to a decade. Offtake agreements made with Chinese companies were outside the scope of the infographic research.

Credit: Nicholas LePan and Blair McBride

The largest number of deals centre on the lithium-rich Atacama Desert of northern Chile and Argentina, where 10 offtake agreements have been inked between miners and automakers and OEMs.

Down Under, Liontown Resources (ASX: LTR) has signed deals that will provide companies with 2 million tonnes of spodumene from its Kathleen Valley project in Western Australia.

The company whose offtake agreements represent the highest dollar value is General Motors. Its deals with miners in the U.S. and Argentina come to at least US$848 million.

While Canada only has two producing lithium mines, the second to begin commercial output, Quebec’s North American Lithium mine has a deal to provide the world’s #1 EV maker Tesla with 125,000 tonnes of spodumene. The project is a 75-25 partnership between Sayona Mining (ASX: SYA; US-OTC: SYAXF) and Piedmont Lithium (NASDAQ: PLL; ASX: PLL).