SQM is seeking a partner for its international operations as the world’s second-biggest lithium supplier looks to step up its presence outside of home-base Chile, according to people familiar with the matter.
The partner search, which is being run by JPMorgan Chase & Co., is at an early stage and is focused on investment funds and strategic investors rather than other mining companies, they said.Soc. Quimica & Minera de Chile SA, as SQM is formally known, is looking to expand in top-producing lithium nation Australia, and gain footholds in new frontiers such as Africa, as it prepares to relinquish a majority stake in its prized Atacama brine operations in Chile.
Fresh funds may help SQM expand its new Mt. Holland mine and develop the Andover project, both in Western Australia, as well as discover new deposits around the world. In recent months, SQM agreed to join a lithium project in Sweden and entered an earn-in arrangement in Namibia.