Australian lithium producer acquires titanium company with assets in Ukraine
Photo: Corpinha, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Australian company European Lithium Limited announced the acquisition of 100% of the shares of the American Velta Holding, a titanium company with production and mining assets in Ukraine. This was reported by reported both companies on Tuesday, January 27.

The transaction will be cashless: European Lithium will pay for the acquisition with approximately 173 million of its shares.

The management of Velta Holding, led by CEO Andriy Brodsky, continues to work in the company and is responsible for project development in Ukraine and the USA.

Velta owns the Byrzulivskyi mining and processing plant and the Likarivske deposit in central Ukraine. The company is estimated to control about 2% of the global titanium raw materials market and is on the list of priority projects of the US-Ukraine Mineral Resources Agreement.

The company specializes in the extraction of ilmenite and titanium ore, and also develops technologies for the production of titanium powders for additive technologies.

"The partnership with Velta Holding is an important step in expanding European Lithium's presence in the critical and strategic minerals market," commented Tony Sage, Executive Chairman of European Lithium.

New investments will allow Velta to accelerate the implementation of industrial projects that the company has been preparing over the past few years, in particular, the development of CRM cluster in Kirovohrad Oblast and a project in the USA – a full production cycle model from the extraction of titanium raw materials and associated critical materials to the production of metallic titanium, powders, and finished components with high added value.

"For Velta Holding, the agreement with European Lithium is an opportunity to launch a number of projects in Ukraine and the USA, which the Group has been preparing for 10 years, maintaining management and the team. This is both horizontal and vertical integration, completing the transition from a raw material model to metallic titanium and critical materials with high added value. For Ukraine, this means investments, jobs, and new technologies. For Europe and the USA, it means reliable and transparent supply chains for critical materials," said Brodsky.