"We have fundamentally made the decision that if a deep sourcing opportunity presents itself down to the mine, we are able and willing to allocate capital to that," Kaellenius said.

The company had opened up a raw materials office in Canada to further discussions in the region on sourcing raw materials following the signature of a battery material cooperation agreement with the Canadian government last year, Chief Technology Officer Markus Schaefer added.

(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee, Editing by Friederike Heine)