https://www.miningweekly.com
Components|Industrial|Power|Projects
Components|Industrial|Power|Projects
components|industrial|power|projects

Chile launches tender for value-added lithium projects

26th March 2019

By: Reuters

  

Font size: - +

SANTIAGO – Chile said on Monday it would shortly begin accepting bids from local and foreign companies seeking to develop battery materials within the South American nation using discounted Chilean lithium provided by top miner SQM.

Chilean authorities struck a deal in January 2018 with SQM that ended a long-running dispute over royalty payments and allowed the miner to boost production from Chile's Salar de Atacama, home to one-third of the world's supply of the ultralight battery metal.

In exchange, the agreement included a clause obligating the company to sell lithium at a reduced price to firms that use it to produce cathode or other battery components within Chile.

Sebastian Sichel, head of Chile's development agency Corfo, which will oversee the process, said the state would begin accepting proposals on April 5. The tender will close in November, and a winner is expected to be announced in early January 2020.

"What we're hoping for now is that we go beyond producing lithium carbonate and finally, to begin generating returns at a more local level," Sichel told reporters at Corfo's headquarters in Santiago.

Lithium is a key ingredient in the batteries that power cellphones, electric vehicles and other consumer goods. Chile is the world's no. 2 producer of lithium, but for now, primarily exports mostly unrefined lithium carbonate for use in battery production abroad.

In March, Corfo awarded contracts to Chile's Molymet, China's Sichuan Fulin Industrial Group and a joint venture between Samsung SDI Co Ltd and South Korea's POSCO to produce battery components in Chile using discounted lithium provided by SQM competitor Albemarle, for a total investment of $754-million.

Those projects, delayed by a dispute between Corfo and Albemarle over pricing, began to move forward again in January, Corfo said.

Edited by Reuters

Comments

Projects

Showroom

Environmental Assurance (Pty) Ltd.
Environmental Assurance (Pty) Ltd.

ENVASS is a customer and solutions-driven environmental consultancy with established divisions, serviced by highly qualified and experienced...

VISIT SHOWROOM 
AutoX
AutoX

We are dedicated to business excellence and innovation.

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Hyphen, Eva mine, ferrochrome price make headlines
Hyphen, Eva mine, ferrochrome price make headlines
27th March 2024
Resources Watch
Resources Watch
27th March 2024

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.1 0.132s - 89pq - 2rq
Subscribe Now