The Olaroz lithium facility.
Toyota Group’s trading arm Toyota Tsusho Corporation has signed a share subscription agreement with Brisbane-based mineral resources company Orocobre, the investment totalling about $292 million.
It will give Toyota Tsusho a 15% stake in Orocobre and elevate their existing long-term project partnership in a lithium brine project in Argentina, the Olaroz lithium facility.
Toyota Tsusho is the exclusive sales agent for the Olaroz project and has established world-wide sales of lithium from it.
Lithium demand is expected to continue growing as more countries switch to EVs, in addition to steady growth in lithium-ion batteries for electric devices. That demand has seen the lithium price double in the past few years, Toyota Tsusho says.
The company says its stake will provide a long-term, stable supply of lithium in response to growing global demand.
Its investment in Orocobre will mainly be used to expand the Olaroz project’s second phase, targeting an additional 25,000 tonnes per annum capacity to a total of 42,500 tonnes pa.
Toyota Tsusho says it will also develop the value chain through a joint investment in a lithium hydroxide project in Japan.
