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New Lithium Giant Emerges to Feed Surging Battery Demand

  • Orocobre, Galaxy’s $3.1b tie up to create top 5 producer
  • Producers are racing to meet surging demand for EV batteries
Orocobre reported a 54% jump in its realized prices in the March quarter, driven by surging demand for the lithium-ion batteries used in EVs.

Orocobre reported a 54% jump in its realized prices in the March quarter, driven by surging demand for the lithium-ion batteries used in EVs.

Photographer: STR/AFP/Getty Images

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A planned $3.1 billion merger of two Australian miners is set to create one of the world’s biggest producers of lithium products key to meeting fast-growing global demand for electric vehicle batteries.

The deal between Orocobre Ltd. and Galaxy Resources Ltd. is the biggest mining sector deal of the year so far, according to Bloomberg data, with shares of both companies closing at the highest in three years in Sydney. The merger would create the world’s fifth-biggest producer of lithium chemicals, the refined form of the raw materials that are used to make electric vehicle batteries.