PNR was awarded an exclusive right to undertake six months of due diligence on BCL, placed under liquidation in 2016.

Company will stick with its policy of paying out 60% of core earnings in dividends for 2021.

Vale CEO Eduardo Bartolomeo said an investigation would be launched into what happened.

Piedmont has already spent $58 million on the project, which would produce about 30,000 tonnes of lithium annually.

All 39 miners had safely been brought to the surface from the Totten mine.

The Chinese battery maker will acquire Millennial at a price of C$3.85 per share, a premium of 6.9% over the offer by Ganfeng.

The contract, signed in 2008, promised a $3.2 billion investment by China in a copper/cobalt mine and another $3 billion worth of infrastructure projects.

Australia is a major supplier of critical minerals, such as nickel, copper and cobalt.