(Yicai Global) Feb. 14 -- Sinomine Resources Group, a leading Chinese supplier of battery-grade lithium fluoride, plans to pay USD20 million for a majority stake in a lithium ore mine in Mongolia to further expand the firm’s resources of the metal.

Sinomine will buy 51 percent of a universal recycling technology lithium ore project in Mongolia’s Tsagan Chuluut region from Lithium Century, which owns the project’s three shareholders, the Beijing-based miner said yesterday.

The project is still in the primary exploration stage, and the exact lithium reserves are uncertain, Sinomine added, noting that the project’s prospecting rights covers an area of more than 332 hectares, and its reserves may exceed 1.7 million tons of lithium ore. Only 10.5 percent of the area has been explored so far, the firm said.

After the acquisition, Sinomine will issue a loan of up to USD20 million for the geological exploration of the project, it added.

Established in 2013, Lithium Century is a mining company focused on the exploration and development of environmentally sustainable extraction of lithium in central Mongolia.

Sinomine was founded in 1999. It is not only the world’s largest producer and supplier of cesium and rubidium but also a leading supplier of battery-grade lithium fluoride in China, as well as the one and only producer of cesium formate worldwide.

Shares of Sinomine [SHE: 002738] closed 0.8 percent higher in Shenzhen today at CNY82 (USD12.03) apiece.

Editor: Futura Costaglione