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Rinehart seals deal on lithium jv
The new partnership provides for Hancock — which already has its foot on the junior explorers’ magnetite deposit at Mt Bevan — to make an initial $4m investment to stake a 7.5 per cent claim in the project’s lithium, nickel and copper, with $2.4m paid to Legacy and the rest to Hawthorn. The deal allows Hancock to spend up to $22m more on further drilling, exploration and the funding of a pre-feasibility study to earn a 51 per cent share of those minerals. Hancock’s head of projects, Sanjiv Manchanda, said the pact flowed from a deepening bilateral relationship between Australia and India. “This work will draw on the significant expertise that is now being assembled at (Hancock), which has a mandate to lead the study, design, and development of a globally significant pipeline of projects,” he said.