Telegraph Article6 May 2021 19:51
Ministers have been urged to block a planned Chinese takeover of a British lithium miner as fears mount over Beijing’s grip on materials critical for electric cars.
Bacanora Lithium, which is listed in London, said it has received a £190m bid from its largest shareholder, China’s Ganfeng Lithium, which is already one of the world’s largest producers of the material.
Ganfeng controls 17.5pc of Bacanora and in February said it planned to raise this stake to almost 30pc.
The cash offer for the remaining shares is at 67.5p per share - a premium of almost 50pc - and values Bacanora at more than £250m.
Shares in Bacanora spiked almost 30pc to 57.9p on news of offer, which its directors said they planned to recommend to shareholders.
But experts warned the potential takeover was “deeply worrying” and called on ministers to intervene immediately.
Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative party leader said: “The Government should now call this in and block it.
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“China already has three-quarters of the world’s rare earth minerals and an even larger share of their processing.
“Rare earth minerals like lithium are to the 21st century what oil was to the 20th century and deals like this are all about taking control of strategic materials to make the West go to China for them.”
Sam Armstrong, of the foreign policy think-tank the Henry Jackson Society, added: "The National Security and Investment Act, which became law just last week, allows ministers to block acquisitions that risk hostile states obtaining a stranglehold over critical resources.
“There cannot be a better candidate for the first ministerial call-in under the new legislation than this deeply worrying acquisition that risks handing control over a critical resource of the future to a genocidal state.”
Strained relations between China and the West have fuelled concerns that Beijing could turn off the tap on supplies. This risks foiling Britain’s ambitions to transition to renewable power and electric cars, with both batteries and advanced motors reliant on the materials.
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On Wednesday the Telegraph revealed how British government is examining how to create strategic reserves of materials such as lithium and cobalt, which are essential in the production of batteries needed for the shift to electric vehicles.
The International Energy Agency has recommended that Western nations consider stockpiling rare earth materials amid fears China could corner the market in them, giving it the ability to create global shortages.
China was responsible for 60pc of world production of cobalt and other rare earth elements in 2019, the IEA said. Chile and the Democratic Republic of Congo are also major producers.
Ganfeng already owns half of Bacanora’s Sonora lithium mine in Mexico, which it is hoped will start producing the material in 2023.
Once fully operational, it is hoped Sonora will produce 35,000 tonnes of battery-grade lithi
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