Galaxy Resources pours cold water on lithium deal speculation

Galaxy Resources has confirmed it is in “informal” talks to sell lithium to a number of battery makers including Tesla supplier Panasonic — but denied a report it had finalised an agreement.

The ASX quizzed Galaxy over trading of its securities yesterday after an article on afr.com reported the company’s directors were in Japan recently for the signing of an agreement with Panasonic.

Shares in the lithium miner rocketed higher on the speculation, hitting an intraday high of $3, up 9.5 per cent, before cooling to close up 6 per cent at $2.90. More than 12.3 million shares changed hands.

Today Galaxy (ASX:GXY) said the article was “not factually correct” and no agreements had been signed.

“Galaxy is uniquely positioned in the global lithium market and is currently engaged in discussions with a number of parties in the battery supply chain, including Panasonic, as part of its normal business, however these discussions are at this stage informal,” Galaxy said.

Galaxy would inform the market if any of the discussions were finalised.

In Wednesday afternoon trade the stock was up another 7c to $2.97.

Galaxy owns the Mt Cattlin lithium mine in Western Australia where it continues to ramp up production following first commercial production at the start of May.

Galaxy made four shipments of lithium concentrate from Mt Cattlin in the first half of 2017.