The Russian miner wants to recover $271 million it lost when a state-backed company failed to complete the acquisition of a 50% stake in its Nkomati mine in South Africa.
The European country holds between 1.2 to 1.4 million tonnes of lithium, located mostly around the tiny village of Cinovec, on the border with Germany.
The miner said decision was unrelated to Elliott Management's call earlier this month to unlock shareholder value by spinning off about $22 billion of BHP's US oil assets.
Both iron ore and diamond output rose in the first quarter thanks to a continued ramping-up of the company's Minas Rio mine in Brazil and improvements in the gem market.
