Lithium brines are found in the middle of Chile’s Salar de Atacama and contain the world’s highest known concentrations of lithium and potassium. (
Additional lithium offtake — from Albemarle Corp.’s mine in Chile — will become available next year for similar deals. While SQM’s production contract expires in 2030, Albemarle’s runs through 2043, providing greater certainty to bidders for preferential prices and signaling a more competitive process, Chilean Economy Minister Nicolas Grau said.
Japan’s biggest battery producers and carmakers have been investing heavily in the development of next-generation batteries as they vie with Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc. and BYD — both frontrunners in the global automotive industry’s shift toward zero emission EVs. Chile, the biggest copper-producing nation and No. 2 lithium supplier, has sought to make the most of booming battery-material demand, but it’s occasionally rattled markets. A plan announced earlier this year by the Boric government outlined proposals for the state to take a controlling stake in lithium operations considered strategically significant, with twin goals of boosting output and making extraction more sustainable.