Media365
Chile’s state-owned Codelco, the world’s leading copper producer, and private miner SQM, which features Chinese capital, announced on Saturday the creation of a giant company to exploit lithium, a lightweight metal used in batteries for electric vehicles.
The public-private partnership will be called Nova Andino Litio SpA, said Codelco, which described the deal as “one of the most significant in the history of Chilean business”.
The Chinese firm Tianqi, based in Chengdu, Sichuan province, holds a 22 per cent stake in SQM.
The new company “will carry out lithium exploration, extraction, production and commercialisation activities in the Atacama salt flat until 2060”, Codelco said in a statement. Chilean regulators authorised the alliance earlier in December.
