American lithium giant Albemarle abandoned its acquisition of Australian lithium miner Liontown and offered A $6.6 billion.

CTOnews.com, Oct. 16 (Reuters)-US lithium giant Liontown Resources has suspended trading to raise money for its Kathleen Valley lithium project, and Albemarle has abandoned an A $6.6 billion (CTOnews.com Note: currently about 30.426 billion yuan) financing bid.

A few days ago, Hancock Prospecting, an iron ore miner owned by Genna Reinhart, Australia's richest man, increased its stake in Liontown to 19.9 per cent, which could be enough to block Albemarle's bid.

Liontown said it abandoned the acquisition to secure funding for Catherine Valley in Western Australia, which will start producing lithium in the middle of next year.

It is understood that the Catherine Valley spodumene project is one of the five largest lithium projects in the world, and Liontown has signed an agreement to supply new energy to Ford, Tesla and LG.

Liontown said last month that it had made progress in discussions with lenders to get at least A $450 million (currently about 2.075 billion yuan) to cover the initial cost. The company raised its cost of capital estimate by 6 per cent to A $951 million, but maintained its first production target.

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