Australian exploration company Firefinch confirmed on Monday all conditions have been met and no objections raised for its Goulamina JV with China’s Ganfeng in Mali.

The Goulamina lithium exploration licence, previously owned by Firefinch, has been transferred to a local subsidiary owned by the 50-50 JV between Ganfeng and Firefinch. Following satisfaction of all conditions to the deal, Ganfeng will now provide $130 million of equity funding in cash to the JV.

Some $39m will be released from escrow and a further $91m till be transferred by the Chinese lithium giant in the coming days, Kallanish reports. Ganfeng is now also required to provide a further $40m in debt or source $64m in third party debt.

The estimated $170m funding inflow is set substantially fund the project through the development phase. Tenders for the ball mill and crushing equipment should be released in early April, with Ganfeng using its supplier network in China.

Firefinch will now proceed with the demerger of Leo Lithium, its entity holding the company’s interest in the JV, from its main business. The plan is to list Leo Lithium on the Australia Stock Exchange, subject to Firefinch’s shareholders approval.

Firefinch and Leo Lithium say that formalising the JV is a major milestone in the journey to make Goulamina one of the world’s largest lithium producers. The companies note Ganfeng will provide funding, offtake and operational support to significantly de-risk development.

The open pit project is planned to produce up to 880,000 tonnes/year of spodumene concentrate, following an update to its definitive feasibility study. The plan is to start production at 506,000 t/y capacity before heading to Stage 2 around 18 months after start-up.

In Stage 1, the companies are expected to produce 2.3 million t/y of lithium chemicals, before reaching 4m t/y in the next stage. The 21-year mine life is estimated to have all-in sustaining costs of $365/t of concentrate and $312/t of operating costs.