ZIJIN Mining Group Co., which lists shares in Hong Kong and Shanghai, will buy Canada’s Neo Lithium Corp. for C$918.7 million (US$737.14 million), the companies said Friday.

Zijin Mining has agreed to buy Argentina-focused lithium company Neo Lithium at a price of C$6.50 per share in cash, the two companies said in a joint statement.

The offer represents a premium of more than 18 percent to Neo Lithium’s last close of C$5.49 Friday.

Neo Lithium said that the deal has been unanimously approved by its board.

In August, Chinese gold and copper miner Zijin Mining said its plan on lithium and other new energy minerals were in a preliminary strategic planning stage with no detailed time frame or specific projects yet.

The deal comes after Shenzhen-listed battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. (CATL) last month agreed to acquire Canada’s Millennial Lithium Corp. in all stock cash deal worth C$376.8 million. CATL is the the world’s largest maker of electric-vehicle batteries.

Last year, CATL, which supplies to carmakers Tesla Inc. and Volkswagen AG, also purchased more than 10 million shares of Neo Lithium and became the company’s third-largest shareholder.

Zijin Mining’s deal comes as prices for battery-grade lithium carbonate in China have more than tripled so far this year as electric-vehicle demand roars back from the pandemic fallout.

According to the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, nearly 60 percent of the country’s spodumene crystal has to be imported from abroad to produce lithium salts used in the manufacture of electric-vehicle batteries. (SD-Agencies)