The company's withdrawal means all eyes are now on Fortescue, which still has a 19.9%-stake in Atlas and has not yet disclosed whether it plans to launch a rival bid or sell its holding into Hancock’s offer.
The country's antitrust regulator is investigating the effects on the market of Chinese miner Tianqi Lithium acquisition of a 24% stake in SQM, the world's second largest lithium producer,
Lucapa has a 35-year license for Lulo, which early last year bore a 404.2-carat white diamond, considered the largest diamond ever recovered in Angola and the biggest diamond ever found by an Australian company.
Deal would have added two lithium projects – the Big Sandy lithium clay project in Arizona and the Lordsburg lithium brine project in New Mexico – to Hawkstone’s portfolio.
