Kodal Minerals Completes First 28,950-Tonne Lithium Spodumene Shipment from Mali to China
Aim-listed Kodal Minerals has completed loading its maiden shipment of 28,950 tonnes of lithium spodumene concentrate onto a dedicated bulk vessel at the Port of San Pedro in Côte d’Ivoire.
The vessel, which arrived on November 9, departed on November 30 bound for Hainan province, China.
Following the successful loading, Kodal’s Mali-registered mining subsidiary, Les Mines de Lithium de Bougouni (LMLB), will issue an invoice for 95% of the cargo’s value to its offtake partner, Hainan Mining.
LMLB—49% owned by Kodal Mining UK—is expected to receive an initial payment of approximately $24 million from this first shipment.
A Milestone Shipment for Bougouni
In recent weeks, LMLB has transported more than 30,000 tonnes of lithium concentrate from the Bougouni lithium project in southern Mali to the San Pedro port stockpile, an 880-km overland journey.
Kodal Minerals says the successful transport and loading operation demonstrates the strength and reliability of its export logistics.
To date, the Stage 1 dense media separation (DMS) plant at Bougouni has produced over 45,000 tonnes of lithium spodumene concentrate at an average grade of 5.39% lithium oxide.
“This first shipment marks a major milestone for our team and will lead to our first revenues from the Bougouni project,” Kodal Minerals CEO Bernard Aylward said. “The recent improvement in lithium pricing will also be reflected in the sale price under our offtake agreement.”
He added that the final sale price—adjusted for product grade, quality, and freight costs—is expected to exceed $930 per dry metric tonne.
Aylward expressed gratitude to shareholders, the workforce, Malian authorities, the Bougouni community, and Hainan Mining, noting that many community members are among the 650 workers on-site at Bougouni.
Growing Lithium Output in Mali
Construction at Bougouni began in mid-2024, and the mine has already produced over 45,000 tonnes of spodumene. The Stage 1 DMS plant processes coarse-grained spodumene from the Ngoualana deposit, with a planned feed rate of one million tonnes of ore per year.
Bougouni is only the second lithium mine to enter production in Mali, marking a significant step forward for the country’s emerging battery-materials sector.
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