Chile unveils plans to nationalise vast lithium industry

| Chile’s President Gabriel Boric said on Thursday he would nationalise the country’s lithium industry, the world’s second-largest producer of the metal essential in electric vehicle batteries, to boost its economy and protect its environment.

The left-leaning government would not terminate current contracts, but hoped companies would be open to state participation before they expire, he said, without naming Albemarle and SQM, the world’s top two lithium producers. SQM’s contract is set to expire in 2030 and Albemarle’s in 2043. The announcement by Chile did not trigger a reversal in lithium prices, which have plunged more than 70 per cent since November due to weakening EV demand in China, the world’s biggest auto-market.

The Boric government plans to set up a lithium institute and is promoting downstream investments to capture more of the EV boom rather than just sending semi-processed material to Chinese and Korean plants. This week, China’s BYD was granted access to preferential prices to make battery-grade lithium carbonate at a plant scheduled to begin operations by end-2025.

“If a public-private company is created to exploit lithium in the Atacama salt flats, it will be controlled by the state through Codelco,” Mr Boric said.

ประเทศไทย ข่าวล่าสุด, ประเทศไทย หัวข้อข่าว

Similar News:คุณยังสามารถอ่านข่าวที่คล้ายกันนี้ซึ่งเรารวบรวมจากแหล่งข่าวอื่น ๆ ได้

Resources industry gets ‘nothing but criticism’ from Greens and ‘nutty left’Former Victorian Liberal Party president Michael Kroger says Australia’s resources industry gets “nothing but criticism” from the Greens and the “nutty left” all day long. “We’re in this very strange environment at the minute where those propping up the economy get hit over the head every day by the mainstream press and by the left,” he told Sky News Australia.
แหล่ง: SkyNewsAust - 🏆 7. / 78 อ่านเพิ่มเติม »

Building industry backs high-silica kitchen benchtop banA major building lobby backs a ban on engineered stone benchtops with deadly concentrations of crystalline silica and has called on the government to urgently fund the testing of workers on construction sites.
แหล่ง: brisbanetimes - 🏆 13. / 67 อ่านเพิ่มเติม »