Toyota-Panasonic battery JV to buy lithium from ioneer's Nevada mine

FILE PHOTO: An employee grabs carbonate lithium after being processed in Argentina August 12, 2021. REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian/File Photo

(Reuters) - A joint battery venture of Toyota Motor Corp and Panasonic Corp will buy lithium from ioneer Ltd's Rhyolite Ridge mining project and use the metal to build electric vehicle batteries in the United States.

The binding supply deal, announced on Sunday, is the second in less than a month for ioneer and a strong vote of confidence in a project that is racing to be the first new U.S. source of the battery metal in decades.