- Call her savvy? Harris unleashes unconventional media blitz
- Lucian Freud 'masterpiece' fetches £13.9 million at London sale
- SoFi Stadium to hold next two CONCACAF Nations League finals
- McIlroy and DeChambeau set for PGA-LIV 'Showdown' in Vegas
- Fed minutes highlight divisions over rate cut decision
- Steve McQueen debuts new WWII film at London festival
- Run blitz edges India and South Africa closer to World Cup semi-finals
- Zelensky to court European leaders in drive for military aid
- Israel captain says 'difficult' to focus on football in time of war
- Macron to host Ukraine's Zelensky after meeting Ukrainian troops
- Root says 'many more to get' after England Test runs landmark
- India pile up World Cup high to rout Sri Lanka
- One year later, Israeli hostage family learns of loss
- Texans receiver Collins, Pats' safety Peppers out for NFL clash
- Biden-Netanyahu talk as Hezbollah, Israeli forces clash
- Musk's X available again in Brazil after 40-day ban
- Reddy stars as India crush Bangladesh to clinch T20 series
- Nobel winners hope protein work will spur 'incredible' breakthroughs
- What are proteins again? Nobel-winning chemistry explained
- Arch rivals Ghana, Nigeria drawn together in CHAN qualifying
- AI steps into science limelight with Nobel wins
- Trump lauds India's Modi as 'total killer'
- Wall Street, Europe rise as Chinese shares tumble
- Hunkering down for Hurricane Milton at Disney -- but first, a few rides
- Reddy, Rinku power India to 221-9 in second Bangladesh T20
- Overshooting 1.5C risks 'irreversible' climate impact: study
- Time running out in Florida to flee Hurricane Milton
- Demis Hassabis, from chess prodigy to Nobel-winning AI pioneer
- The long walk for water in the parched Colombian Amazon
- Biden-Netanyahu to talk as Hezbollah, Israeli forces clash
- France vows to step up drugs fight after police vehicles torched
- Air France says jet flew over Iraq during Iran attack on Israel
- Activists target Picasso work to protest Israel arms sales
- Let 'Emily in Paris' remain in Paris, Macron says
- Global stocks diverge as Chinese shares tumble
- Time runs out in Florida to flee Hurricane Milton
- Chad issues warning ahead of more devastating floods
- Record-breaking Root helps England dominate Pakistan in first Test
- German govt sees economy shrinking again in 2024
- Ex-UK soldier denies passing secrets to Iran intelligence
- Creator's death no bar to new 'Dragon Ball' products
- Three Kosovo Serbs on trial over 'secession plot' attack
- Van Gogh museum to launch Impressionism show
- French minister ups ante in Eiffel Tower Olympic rings row
- Japan PM calls snap election to 'create a new Japan'
- German police shut pro-Palestinian camp over Thunberg invite
- Chinese stocks tumble on lack of fresh stimulus
- Trio wins chemistry Nobel for protein design, prediction
- SE Asian summit urges end to Myanmar violence but struggles for solutions
- Wimbledon replaces line judges with electronic system
RIO | -0.52% | 66.315 | $ | |
CMSC | 0.04% | 24.65 | $ | |
SCS | 1.74% | 13.006 | $ | |
BCC | 0.3% | 142.445 | $ | |
NGG | -0.38% | 65.65 | $ | |
RBGPF | -2.48% | 59.33 | $ | |
BTI | 0.72% | 35.475 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.15% | 24.815 | $ | |
BCE | -0.62% | 33.305 | $ | |
JRI | 0.35% | 13.206 | $ | |
RYCEF | -1.01% | 6.9 | $ | |
VOD | 0.77% | 9.735 | $ | |
RELX | 0.27% | 46.765 | $ | |
GSK | 6.01% | 40.45 | $ | |
AZN | 0.81% | 77.5 | $ | |
BP | 0.01% | 32.034 | $ |
Giant lithium partnership created in Chile
Chile's state-owned copper giant Codelco signed a deal Friday with SQM to nearly double the private mining firm’s current extraction of lithium, a key mineral for the global switch to cleaner energy.
Codelco is the world's largest copper producer, and SQM is a leader in lithium, often called "white gold."
The agreement provides for the creation of a public-private partnership "that will take responsibility for production of refined lithium in the Salar de Atacama from 2025 to 2060," the companies said in a statement.
The Salar de Atacama, in the desert by the same name, is a salt flat holding the main deposits of the mineral in Chile, which is part of Latin America's "lithium triangle" with Argentina and Bolivia.
The demand for lithium has grown strongly in recent years as the world seeks to move away from fossil fuels to curb global warming.
It is notably used in electric car batteries.
The companies will partner in extracting an additional 300,000 tons of lithium over the period from 2025 to 2030, with a production goal of 280,000-300,000 tons per year from 2031 to 2060, according to the statement.
In 2023, SQM produced 169,000 tons.
Chile's leftist President Gabriel Boric came to office with plans to create a national lithium company similar to state-owned Codelco, formed in the 1970s out of nationalized mining firms.
Codelco will own 50 percent of the shares, plus one, in the new partnership, according to the press statement.
The Chilean state, it added, will receive about 70 percent of the operating margin generated by the new production between 2025 and 2030, and 85 percent starting in 2031.
Until 2016, Chile was the world's largest lithium producer with 37 percent of the market, but by 2022 it ranked second behind Australia with 243,100 tons produced -- some 34 percent of the global total.
Y.Nakamura--AMWN