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lithium fight continues","chiles-lithium-fight-continues","article/chiles-lithium-fight-continues",{"_uid":557,"date":558,"tags":559,"editor":563,"content":573,"excerpt":834,"featured":50,"reporter":835,"_editable":839,"component":840,"seo_title":553,"categories":841,"visibility":850,"author_company":49,"featured_image":851,"seo_description":834,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":856,"formattedArticleDate":857},"55649ecf-a798-46e8-8d55-22b40c1b7dd1","2017-11-24 00:00",[560],{"slug":561,"name":562},"chile","Chile",[564],{"slug":565,"name":566,"content":567},"didi-bostock","Didi Bostock",{"job_title":568,"image":569,"bio":571,"linkedin":572},"Editor - Energy Transition & Economics",{"filename":570},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/512x512/2c5ca5c1a3/didi-bostock.jpeg","Didi is the Energy Transition & Economics Editor at Benchmark, covering a broad range of markets across the energy transition. His remit spans from downstream sectors such as BESS and EVs, through to midstream such as new technologies and battery production, to upstream critical minerals mining. He also leads on financial analysis across these supply chains, alongside in-depth policy analysis.\n","https://www.linkedin.com/in/didi-bostock-656342198/",{"type":574,"content":575},"doc",[576,583,588,593,598,603,608,613,618,621,626,631,636,641,646,651,656,661,666,671,676,683,688,693,698,703,708,711,716,721,726,731,736,741,746,751,756,761,766,771,776,781,784,789,794,799,804,809,814,819,824,829],{"type":577,"attrs":578,"content":579},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[580],{"text":581,"type":582},"Lack of rules hurts Chile lithium growth prospects as SQM resolution looks distant, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence’s Paul Harris hears in Santiago","text",{"type":577,"attrs":584,"content":585},{"textAlign":49},[586],{"text":587,"type":582},"A lack of clear rules and the ongoing dispute between the government and leading lithium producer SQM, are hurting Chile’s ability to respond to the growth in demand for lithium by bringing new production on stream, according to speakers at the 1st Lithium Forum in Santiago, Chile.",{"type":577,"attrs":589,"content":590},{"textAlign":49},[591],{"text":592,"type":582},"Conference host Ricardo Cortes of Editec opened the event by stating that the lithium industry in Chile is at a crossroads, having been toppled by Australia from its number one producer spot and that it needs, “the authority to allow the development of our reserves with urgency.”",{"type":577,"attrs":594,"content":595},{"textAlign":49},[596],{"text":597,"type":582},"Lawyer Cristian Quinzio, partner of Quinzio Abogados, walked delegates through the existing legal framework and concluded that Chile continues to make “unforced errors” as there is no legal framework for lithium given that the government declared the metal as non-concessionable.",{"type":577,"attrs":599,"content":600},{"textAlign":49},[601],{"text":602,"type":582},"Law 2886 of 1979 established that lithium is non-concessionable and that only the state, state companies or private companies operating under special operating contracts or having administrative concessions, can be involved in lithium exploitation, but regulations have never been established to implement this.",{"type":577,"attrs":604,"content":605},{"textAlign":49},[606],{"text":607,"type":582},"“There are no regulations for the state to exercise its rights and so we are creating expectations that will lead to more disputes that will freeze the development of the salars,” he said. Quinzio said the CEOL’s (special lithium operating contracts) lack robustness as they are based on a contracting model used in the oil sector where there is a solid legal framework.",{"type":577,"attrs":609,"content":610},{"textAlign":49},[611],{"text":612,"type":582},"“Oil contracts have very specific regulations that lithium doesn’t have,” he said. Albemarle, which has been allowed to expand its production, also joined the call for legal change. “We need to establish a new regulatory framework for exploitation.",{"type":577,"attrs":614,"content":615},{"textAlign":49},[616],{"text":617,"type":582},"It will take five to ten years for new supply to come on line whilst demand is growing now,” said Ney Fauré, strategic development manager at Albemarle.",{"type":577,"attrs":619,"content":620},{"textAlign":49},[],{"type":577,"attrs":622,"content":623},{"textAlign":49},[624],{"text":625,"type":582},"Former BHP Billiton executive Diego Hernandez, now president of mining association Sonami, was blunter when he asked: “How are you going to explore for something that is not concessionable? It is necessary to adjust legislation so that the private sector can freely enter to exploit lithium.",{"type":577,"attrs":627,"content":628},{"textAlign":49},[629],{"text":630,"type":582},"If there is no legal change and the flexibility to explore for and produce lithium in Chile, it is likely that new production capacity will be installed in other countries.” SQM is certainly acting in this direction, through its investment in Minera Exar a 50:50 joint venture with Lithium Americas.",{"type":577,"attrs":632,"content":633},{"textAlign":49},[634],{"text":635,"type":582},"Plus it has just invested in Kidman Resources that is looking to develop a spodumene resource in Western Australia. Some also take this as evidence that its legal deadlock in Chile is not going to be resolved any time soon.",{"type":577,"attrs":637,"content":638},{"textAlign":49},[639],{"text":640,"type":582},"The current regulatory framework in Chile lead Juan Esteban Fuentes of CRU to comment that it will be, “a minimum of five years before we see new production in Chile and more likely ten.”",{"type":577,"attrs":642,"content":643},{"textAlign":49},[644],{"text":645,"type":582},"Hernandez said that lithium investors currently have more attractive places to put their capital than Chile. “For investors today, to develop a project in Argentina is simpler and has more foreseeable conditions than in Chile.”",{"type":577,"attrs":647,"content":648},{"textAlign":49},[649],{"text":650,"type":582},"Gustavo Lagos, mineral economics researcher from the Catholic University, recently published a book called The Development of Lithium in Chile 1984-2017, and summed things up by saying, “we are champions at discovery but really bad at writing regulations.”",{"type":577,"attrs":652,"content":653},{"textAlign":49},[654],{"text":655,"type":582},"The potential for legal complexity increases from this starting point. For example, lithium is one of several minerals that can be exploited from brines that also includes potassium, boron and others, as well as water rights (lithium was discovered in the Atacama Salar in the 1960s by state copper company Codelco when it was looking for water sources).",{"type":577,"attrs":657,"content":658},{"textAlign":49},[659],{"text":660,"type":582},"SQM’s lithium production is essentially a by-product of its potassium production in the Atacama Salar. But only lithium is non-concessionable, which already sees SQM reinjecting lithium into the salar because of the lithium production quota system.",{"type":577,"attrs":662,"content":663},{"textAlign":49},[664],{"text":665,"type":582},"Lagos is an advocate of using free market mechanisms for lithium exploitation and said that deep political differences in Chile, mean that having the state in charge of its exploitation is a big mistake.",{"type":577,"attrs":667,"content":668},{"textAlign":49},[669],{"text":670,"type":582},"“This is the death of lithium in Chile,” he said. Sonami’s Hernandez reflected that the reasons that Chile’s military dictatorship declared lithium a strategic resource in 1979, “are not valid today,” adding that, “no other country in the world sees lithium as strategic.”",{"type":577,"attrs":672,"content":673},{"textAlign":49},[674],{"text":675,"type":582},"Gustavo Lagos went further and commented that the US stopped viewing lithium as strategic in 1978 before Chile made it so.",{"type":677,"attrs":678,"content":680},"heading",{"level":679,"textAlign":49},3,[681],{"text":682,"type":582},"Corfo lacks clarity",{"type":577,"attrs":684,"content":685},{"textAlign":49},[686],{"text":687,"type":582},"State development agency Corfo is tasked with administering Chile’s lithium resource and delegates complained that the agency is doing little to create new production opportunities, despite vice president Eduardo Bitran commenting that there may only be a limited window of opportunity of 20-40 years to do so due to competition from other countries and the possibility of substitution by other technologies.",{"type":577,"attrs":689,"content":690},{"textAlign":49},[691],{"text":692,"type":582},"“We need to expand production to prevent competition with higher costs from developing their offer,” he said.",{"type":577,"attrs":694,"content":695},{"textAlign":49},[696],{"text":697,"type":582},"He also challenged other speakers that Chile has lost its top producer spot to Australia. During the session on public management and administration of the salars, Bitran didn’t talk about how Corfo will promote lithium exploration or where new production will come from.",{"type":577,"attrs":699,"content":700},{"textAlign":49},[701],{"text":702,"type":582},"Instead, Corfo is focused on a tender process looking to the development of value-added lithium products in Chile using lithium carbonate material to be supplied by Albemarle, announcing that seven companies [VEL Rosatom, Suchuam Fulin Industrial Group, Jiangmen Kanhoo Industry, Molymet, Gansu Daxiang Energy Technology, Umicore and Samsung] prequalified.",{"type":577,"attrs":704,"content":705},{"textAlign":49},[706],{"text":707,"type":582},"The proponents must present their offers on December 1st and perhaps hinting at the direction Corfo will take, Bitran commented that,” Chile has no advantages to produce batteries but it could have for the active components of batteries such as cathodes and the components of the cathodes.”",{"type":577,"attrs":709,"content":710},{"textAlign":49},[],{"type":577,"attrs":712,"content":713},{"textAlign":49},[714],{"text":715,"type":582},"So certain is Bitran that Chile will successfully develop a value-added lithium products supply chain that he estimated in ten years Chile will generate US$10 billion in lithium sales with $4 billion coming from value-added sales. “If we do things well and solve problems with one company, by 2035 Chile will produce 600,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate,” he said.",{"type":577,"attrs":717,"content":718},{"textAlign":49},[719],{"text":720,"type":582},"Bitran and his Socialist development view for lithium clearly rankles sector participants that are looking to increase lithium production, an effect that he seems to enjoy.",{"type":577,"attrs":722,"content":723},{"textAlign":49},[724],{"text":725,"type":582},"The contrarian elements of his discourse rapidly disperse to reveal the politicized Orwellian newspeak and dose of Panglossian optimism about his plans to mount a central planning approach for lithium development. “Bitran talks of a window of opportunity but the government is not doing anything to open it.",{"type":577,"attrs":727,"content":728},{"textAlign":49},[729],{"text":730,"type":582},"Apart from a tender process in 2012 that failed, Corfo has done nothing to develop lithium from 1993 to 2016,” said Lagos, adding, “who cares if Chile is number one or number two as long as development continues.”",{"type":577,"attrs":732,"content":733},{"textAlign":49},[734],{"text":735,"type":582},"With the state having a clear role in future lithium production, Codelco is advancing its studies on the potential for the Maricunga and Pederales salars. Anibal Gajardo of geological survey Sernageomin confirmed that Maricunga is the highest potential salar after Atacama, a fact reflected by the presence of Minera Salar Blanco at the event.",{"type":577,"attrs":737,"content":738},{"textAlign":49},[739],{"text":740,"type":582},"Blanco is the most advanced project in Chile after SQM and Albemarle and aims to have completed an EIA and preliminary economic assessment by December 2017 and feasibility study at the end of 2018 for an operation to produce 20,000 tpa of LiCO3.",{"type":577,"attrs":742,"content":743},{"textAlign":49},[744],{"text":745,"type":582},"“We do not need an agreement with Corfo. Corfo is not present in the Maricunga Salar,” said CEO Cristobal Huidobro. Interestingly, state mineral agency Enami, which runs various copper processing plants and commercialization services for small- and medium-sized miners, is staking its claim to be the state actor in the sector.",{"type":577,"attrs":747,"content":748},{"textAlign":49},[749],{"text":750,"type":582},"President Jaime Perez de Arce explained that the laws that constituted Enami mean it has the faculty to exploit lithium, even though it has never been involved in the element nor does it have any technical expertise within the company.",{"type":577,"attrs":752,"content":753},{"textAlign":49},[754],{"text":755,"type":582},"Perez de Arce is angling to have Enami designated the state company to manage lithium exploitation-even though Codelco has already established a subsidiary for this purpose.",{"type":677,"attrs":757,"content":758},{"level":679,"textAlign":49},[759],{"text":760,"type":582},"Environment",{"type":577,"attrs":762,"content":763},{"textAlign":49},[764],{"text":765,"type":582},"The forum was opened by mining minister Aurora Williams who, whilst commenting that Chile has 52.2% of the world’s lithium reserves and that the government sees lithium as a much-desired development opportunity, she cautioned that the bar will be raised regarding socio-environmental aspects for future developments.",{"type":577,"attrs":767,"content":768},{"textAlign":49},[769],{"text":770,"type":582},"“Lithium is important but it has to be within the context of management of the salars.” Following this lead, the phrase ‘Salars are fragile ecosystems’ was employed by all other government speakers.",{"type":577,"attrs":772,"content":773},{"textAlign":49},[774],{"text":775,"type":582},"In this vein, Corfo’s Arlene Ebensperger commented said that a pilot for real-time, online monitoring of the Atacama salar will commence in 2019 whilst Paula Diaz of the Environment Ministry said that companies face the prospect of having another state agency to deal with as a bill to create the SBAP (national biodiversity and protected areas service) is before the Senate.",{"type":577,"attrs":777,"content":778},{"textAlign":49},[779],{"text":780,"type":582},"With the Atacama Salar surrounded by indigenous communities, the socio-economic aspects of their management were reflected in the agreement Albemarle struck with Corfo in 2016 to expand its La Negra production to an eventual 88,000 tpa LCE. Under the agreement, local communities will receive 3.5% of sales revenue.",{"type":577,"attrs":782,"content":783},{"textAlign":49},[],{"type":577,"attrs":785,"content":786},{"textAlign":49},[787],{"text":788,"type":582},"The elephant in the room was the ongoing dispute between leading producer SQM and Corfo. Whether intentional or not, the programme separated the government (in the morning) from the private sector (in the afternoon), perhaps to minimize the chance for conflict.",{"type":577,"attrs":790,"content":791},{"textAlign":49},[792],{"text":793,"type":582},"Bitran clearly has a chip on his shoulder regarding SQM, or more specifically partial owner Julio Ponce, and is seeking to terminate SQM’s lithium exploitation contract on the grounds of non-compliance with environmental obligations.",{"type":577,"attrs":795,"content":796},{"textAlign":49},[797],{"text":798,"type":582},"The dispute is in arbitration and Bitran was clear on the conditions under which Corfo could reach an agreement with the producer. “Our requirements are for a drastic change in the corporate governance and structure of SQM, resolution of the environmental issues, Julio Ponce to lose control of the company and a change of the directors.",{"type":577,"attrs":800,"content":801},{"textAlign":49},[802],{"text":803,"type":582},"Whilst there is no change of control, no agreement is possible,” he said adding that resolution of the dispute would still not resolve the issue that SQM’s lithium production quota will be exhausted in 2022. Felipe Smith, SQM’s head of business development later commented, “over the last two years SQM has made a lot of interesting changes regarding the structure of its management and board.",{"type":577,"attrs":805,"content":806},{"textAlign":49},[807],{"text":808,"type":582},"Today, we have one of the highest level boards in the country”. With no timetable guiding the arbitration, the SQM-Corfo dispute is unlikely to be resolved any time soon and probably not during the last few months of the Michelle Bachelet administration.",{"type":577,"attrs":810,"content":811},{"textAlign":49},[812],{"text":813,"type":582},"However, it may not be easily resolved under the new government in 2018. “Sebastian Piñera is looking like a strong candidate for president but he also has a dispute with Julio Ponce and so he may not be motivated to end this,” a notable Chilean mining sector researcher told Benchmark Minerals.",{"type":577,"attrs":815,"content":816},{"textAlign":49},[817],{"text":818,"type":582},"2022 is therefore shaping up as a critical year for SQM. Depending upon the ultimate result of the arbitration process—or will of the next government—Smith presented three scenarios for SQM’s production that will either see it decline rapidly, be allowed to continue at current levels, or the company may be allowed to double its production.",{"type":577,"attrs":820,"content":821},{"textAlign":49},[822],{"text":823,"type":582},"For now, the main growth in lithium production in Chile will come from Albemarle under its 2016 agreement with Corfo, but it has some technical hurdles to overcome in order to do so. Its phase II expansion doubles production to 42,000 tpa LCE by increasing its pumping rate to 442 litres per second.",{"type":577,"attrs":825,"content":826},{"textAlign":49},[827],{"text":828,"type":582},"Its phase III project will increase production to 88,000 tpa LCE however, it has to maintain the same pumping rate of 442 lps, which means it will have to develop a technological solution to increase the lithium recovery rate. Corfo’s Bitran mentioned a recovery of about 70% but Fauré did not comment on this.",{"type":577,"attrs":830,"content":831},{"textAlign":49},[832],{"text":833,"type":582},"“Phase II is built and operating and the transfer of concentrated brine will increase each quarter. Phase III is in the engineering phase and will start construction in mid-2018 and be in operation at the end of 2019 or early 2020,” said Fauré","Lack of rules hurts Chile lithium growth prospects as SQM resolution looks distant, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence’s Paul Harris hears in Santiago A lack of clear rules and the ongoing dispute between the government and leading lithium producer SQM, are hurting Chile’s ability to respond to the growth in demand for lithium by bringing new production […]",[836],{"slug":565,"name":566,"content":837},{"job_title":568,"image":838,"bio":571,"linkedin":572},{"filename":570},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"55649ecf-a798-46e8-8d55-22b40c1b7dd1\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[842,845,848],{"slug":843,"name":844},"batteries","Batteries",{"slug":846,"name":847},"critical-minerals","Critical Minerals",{"slug":849,"name":8},"lithium","private",{"id":49,"alt":852,"name":852,"focus":852,"title":852,"source":852,"filename":853,"copyright":852,"fieldtype":854,"meta_data":855,"is_external_url":51},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/c674b5f386/bm-screen-shot-2017-11-24-at-161138.png","asset",{"alt":852,"title":852,"source":852,"copyright":852},"Nov 24, 2017","24th November 2017",[],[],1792773945373]