Over a 57-year project life, K.Hill is expected to supply over 3.5 million tonnes of high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate.

"The much bigger question is rebooting confidence," said a senior executive at an LME member broker.

The Kingdom has been studying setting up the trading platform for the past three months and it does not expect a decision to be made before the next six.

Prices on the Guangzhou Futures Exchange have more than halved since the bourse debuted lithium trading in July.

The South African coal miner plans to acquire manganese and copper assets.

Lithium’s price slump over the past year has been as dramatic as its climb — and it’s probably not finished yet.

Hedge fund Elliott Associates and market maker Jane Street Global Trading brought the case after LME cancelled $12 billion in trades in 2022.

India will also announce the acquisition of lithium blocks in Australia and Argentina in a month or two.