Top lithium miners eye partnerships with Chile’s government under new law

SQM already has a deal with Codelco to mine lithium in northern Chile.

Some of top lithium miners including China’s Tianqi Lithium Corp., South Korea’s LG Energy Solution and French critical mineral producer Eramet SA have met with Chilean government representatives in the past two months to explore potential partnerships to develop the country’s vast resources of the battery metal. 

Data released on Chile’s transparency platform shows the three companies and Tesla’s representatives held meetings with government authorities to discuss the new public-private lithium exploitation model announced in April.

Tianqi has operations across China and in Australia and holds a 23.7% stake in Chile’s SQM (NYSE: SQM), LG Energy Solution has lithium supply deals with major manufacturers, while Eramet holds the Centenario lithium production plant in Argentina. 

Under President Gabriel Boric’s ambitious plan, any company wishing to explore for or mine lithium in the mineral-rich nation must be in a partnership with the government, and the state would hold a controlling stake. 

The strategy aims to expand the extraction of lithium while using pioneering environmentally-friendly technology and including the consent of local Indigenous communities.

Executives from Tianqi discussed investment intentions in a meeting in December. LG Energy did as well, while Eramet had approached authorities in November to explore an alliance in the 1,200-sq.-km lithium concession it owns in the Atacama region.

According to local paper El Mercurio, Tesla’s regional business development manager, Eugenio Grandio, also met with government officials to talk about strategies for electric mobility.

Tesla executives had met with the ministers of foreign affairs and mining in early 2023, just weeks before Boric announced the country’s new lithium strategy.

The two largest lithium producers, Albemarle (NYSE: ALB) and SQM, already have operations in the country, which is the world’s second largest producer of the battery metal.

Only a day before the end of 2023, Chilean lithium miner SQM managed to ink a deal with copper giant Codelco for the future development and production of the metal in the Atacama salt flat, in a tie-up set to kick off in 2025 and run through 2060.

Albemarle’s current contract with Chile expires in 2043, but CEO Kent Masters has said he is open to negotiating before the deadline.