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(Bloomberg) — Eni SpA agreed to invest $225 million in an early-stage lithium project owned by Energy Exploration Technologies Inc., deepening the Italian oil and gas company’s push into critical minerals.
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The investment gives Eni a minority stake in the Black Giant project in Chile’s Antofagasta region, receiving rights to as much as 25% of the project’s future lithium production, according to a statement from EnergyX on Monday. The project still requires key permitting.
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Eni joins a growing list of oil companies moving into lithium mining at a time when the key ingredient in electric-vehicle batteries is starting to emerge from a global glut. Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. have also entered the sector, seeking to leverage decades of experience in drilling and managing underground reservoirs to produce the metal from brine deposits.
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Pending permitting, Black Giant would produce 52,500 metric tons a year of lithium carbonate across its first two phases using a direct extraction technique. Total capital costs are estimated at almost $1 billion.
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EnergyX also has a $690 million non-binding letter of intent from the Export-Import Bank of the US for debt financing, which would fund the project’s commercialization and operations. The closely held company acquired the project in 2023 and says it has identified 9.8 million tons of resources.
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The deal expands a relationship that began when Eni’s venture capital arm, Eni Next, participated in EnergyX’s Series B financing in 2022. Goldman Sachs advised EnergyX on the most recent transaction.
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EnergyX is seeking to capitalize on Chilean President José Antonio Kast’s pro-investment agenda, which includes streamlining permitting, as US President Donald Trump’s administration is pushing to establish regional supply chains for minerals currently dominated by China.
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