The hunt for resources for electric vehicles has seen carmakers slowly move down the supply chain, first agreeing deals with miners and now investing in them. The latest such deal has seen Fiat's parent company, Stellantis, and Volkswagen back a mining special purpose acquisition company (Spac) that is buying two operating mines from private equity firm Appian Capital that are still the subject of a High Court fight.
Appian announced a year ago that it was suing platinum group metals giant Sibanye-Stillwater (US:SBSW) after it backed out of a deal to buy the two mines for $1.2bn (£0.9bn) in early 2022. Sibanye said at the time it would fight the claim that it had used a minor earth fall in the open pit to cancel the deal. The trial is set for June 2024.
Appian had bought Santa Rita out of a bankruptcy process in 2018 for $68mn, and the Serrote copper mine for $30mn in the same year. It spent $155mn at Santa Rita and $240mn at Serrote to get them up and running.