Chinese battery metals giant Jiangxi Ganfeng will fork out more than $250 million for a 50 per cent stake in a lithium project controlled by a Perth-based company that was worth $15 million less than a year ago.

The latest deal in the resurgent lithium sector will see Ganfeng provide $US130 million ($169 million) of equity funding and arrange debt funding of up to $US64 million in return for a half-share in Firefinch Limited’s Goulamina project in the West African nation of Mali.