(Yicai Global) May 30 -- Leo Lithium’s shares jumped after Ganfeng Lithium, a major Chinese supplier of lithium battery materials, said it plans to pay AUD100 million (USD65.2 million) for 9.9 percent of the Australian miner.

Leo Lithium [ASX: LLL] closed up 9.7 percent at 93 Australian cents (61 US cents) in Sydney today. Its Frankfurt-traded stock [FRA: WX0] was trading 8.3 percent higher at 59 euro cents (63 US cents) as of 10.19 a.m. local time.

The invested funds will be used to develop and operate the first phase of the Goulamina spodumene mine project in southern Mali, which is expected to be completed next year, Xinyu-based Ganfeng Lithium said yesterday. Spodumene is a raw material for basic lithium salt products.

Founded last year, Leo Lithium owns half of the Goulamina project and a unit of Ganfeng Lithium owns the other half. The mine covers an area of 100 square kilometers and has a total reserves of 142 million tons.

They plan to increase the annual output capacity of the project’s second phase to about 500,000 tons of spodumene concentrate, bringing the total to 1 million tons, Ganfeng Lithium noted.

The pair will also look at the feasibility of building a joint venture lithium salt production base in Europe or elsewhere, it added.

Shares of Ganfeng Lithium [SHE: 002460] closed 1.2 percent higher at CNY62.09 (USD8.77) each in Shenzhen today. In Hong Kong, the company’s stock [HKG: 1772] fell 0.5 percent to HKD50.55 (USD6.45).

Editor: Futura Costaglione