Lake appoints Citi, JP Morgan to secure Kachi debt financing

Strong bank interest in financing its Kachi lithium project has led Lake Resources to appoint two leading project finance institutions to put together a debt financing package.

Citi and JP Morgan will act as joint coordinators for the debt financing with a view to obtaining Export Credit Agency guarantees from UK Export Finance to cover about 70% of the total Kachi project funding requirements.

Export Development of Canada is also expected to participate alongside UKEF as the lead ECA under a Common Terms Agreement.

It follows Lake Resources’ (ASX:LKE) advisor GKB Ventures carrying out a Tender Panel which implied indicative bank appetite for Kachi more than five times the required amount.

The amount of the proposed debt financing for the planned 50,000tpa lithium carbonate equivalent project will be governed, among other things, by the outcomes of the DFS currently underway and the Export Credit Agencies assessments of all studies.

“We are pleased to partner with Citi and JP Morgan, who support Lake’s commitment to sustainable extraction, and minimising our environmental footprint,” managing director Steve Promnitz said.

“Together, we are contributing to a clean energy future that aligns with investors’, debt providers’, and off-takers’ requirements that new lithium projects adhere to strict ESG standards.”

The Kachi lithium brines project in Argentina currently hosts a resource of 4.4Mt of LCE.

This article was developed in collaboration with Lake Resources, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.