Anglo-Australian Rio Tinto UK:RIO has agreed to buy Arcadium Lithium ALTM in an all-cash deal for $5.85 a share expected to close next year. Arcadium Lithium was created in January 2024 after Livent and Allkem merged.

Rio Tinto is buying Arcadium Lithium for $6.7 billion as the Anglo-Australian miner seeks to diversify beyond its primary products of iron ore, copper, and aluminum.Rio Tinto confirmed the deal in a press release early Wednesday.

Rio Tinto has agreed to buy U.S. based Arcadium Lithium for $6.7 billion, it said on Wednesday, a deal that will catapult it to become the world's third largest miner of the metal used in electric vehicle batteries.