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cold war","lithiums-cold-war","article/lithiums-cold-war",{"_uid":557,"date":558,"tags":559,"editor":560,"content":570,"excerpt":766,"featured":50,"reporter":767,"_editable":771,"component":772,"seo_title":553,"categories":773,"visibility":782,"author_company":49,"featured_image":783,"seo_description":766,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":788,"formattedArticleDate":789},"8f2d46e9-ef5f-45ea-b748-3b9a85042c78","2017-07-26 00:00",[],[561],{"slug":562,"name":563,"content":564},"matthew-bird","Matthew Bird",{"job_title":565,"image":566,"bio":568,"linkedin":569},"Senior Editor - Supply Chains & Data Visualisation",{"filename":567},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/512x512/14738033ec/matthew-bird.jpeg","Matthew writes, edits and produces content for Benchmark Intelligence and Benchmark Source across the whole mine to grid supply chain. He also acts as a liaison to the press. He has a PhD in electrochemistry from the University of Nottingham.","https://www.linkedin.com/in/birdmatthew/",{"type":571,"content":572},"doc",[573,589,594,599,604,609,614,619,624,629,634,639,644,649,654,659,664,669,674,679,688,693,698,703,708,713,718,723,728,733,738,743,748,753,758,763],{"type":574,"attrs":575,"content":576},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[577,583,585],{"text":578,"type":579,"marks":580},"Chile’s lithium revolution has been hampered by political clashes between government ","text",[581],{"type":582},"italic",{"text":584,"type":579},"organization",{"text":586,"type":579,"marks":587},", Corfo and Atacama producer, SQM. With Argentina and Australia enacting significant new projects in both brine and hard rock, is there a resolution in sight for the world’s leading producer?",[588],{"type":582},{"type":574,"attrs":590,"content":591},{"textAlign":49},[592],{"text":593,"type":579},"By Paul Harris in Colombia ",{"type":574,"attrs":595,"content":596},{"textAlign":49},[597],{"text":598,"type":579},"Chile is blessed with the most abundant sources of world lithium in brine salars (salt lakes). Whilst it has been a leading producer for decades, as the lithium market takes off due to the potential for electric vehicles (EV’s) and energy storage, its expansion in recent years has stalled and finds its neighbour Argentina snapping at its heels.",{"type":574,"attrs":600,"content":601},{"textAlign":49},[602],{"text":603,"type":579},"The USGS estimates Chile’s lithium reserves at 7.5m tonnes of the world’s 13m tonnes, making it the largest source of in situ material. Existing producers in Chile, Sociedad Quimica y Minera (SQM), and Albemarle have enjoyed an oligopoly for many years, yet idiosyncratic state policies inhibit the oligarchy from crushing emergent competition in other jurisdictions, which means Chile’s lithium industry fights with one arm tied behind its back.",{"type":574,"attrs":605,"content":606},{"textAlign":49},[607],{"text":608,"type":579},"Chile’s Atacama Desert has hosted a dominant salt-based mineral industry before with the salitre (sodium nitrate) industry that saw its monopoly disintegrate when German scientists synthesized the chemical during the First World War. Whilst Chile’s lithium industry does not face extinction due to armed conflict, an internal political war is hampering its ability to take advantage of growing demand for lithium products.",{"type":574,"attrs":610,"content":611},{"textAlign":49},[612],{"text":613,"type":579},"Anachronism",{"type":574,"attrs":615,"content":616},{"textAlign":49},[617],{"text":618,"type":579},"Whilst Chile has a century-old copper mining tradition, lithium is a relatively new product for the country. There was some exploitation in the 1980s, but SQM really started things when it made its first export in 1997 under a quota established in 1993. For much of the following 25 years, lithium has been a workhorse industrial mineral for industrial and chemical processes that few people got excited about until the recent rise of the battery economy.",{"type":574,"attrs":620,"content":621},{"textAlign":49},[622],{"text":623,"type":579},"Long before Elon Musk’s Tesla inspired new interest in EV’s and putting lithium in the spotlight as a crucial mineral for power storage development, Chile declared lithium a strategic mineral in 1979.",{"type":574,"attrs":625,"content":626},{"textAlign":49},[627],{"text":628,"type":579},"There was no great foresight here.",{"type":574,"attrs":630,"content":631},{"textAlign":49},[632],{"text":633,"type":579},"Rather, with the Cold War in full swing, Chile was governed by a military dictatorship and bitter regional rival Argentina had recently (1974) become a nuclear power generator so the distinction was given because an isotope of the metal is used in nuclear fusion.",{"type":574,"attrs":635,"content":636},{"textAlign":49},[637],{"text":638,"type":579},"That 1979 decision meant that lithium production in Chile was governed by Chile’s nuclear commission and administered by state development agency Corfo through a quota system still in place today and it is that quota system that has restricted growth in Chile’s lithium production.",{"type":574,"attrs":640,"content":641},{"textAlign":49},[642],{"text":643,"type":579},"Under the current administration that distinction has remained.",{"type":574,"attrs":645,"content":646},{"textAlign":49},[647],{"text":648,"type":579},"Shortly after taking office, President Michelle Bachelet convoked a lithium commission in June 2014 that reported three conclusions in January 2016. The commission maintained the definition of lithium as a strategic resource; it said that the resource must return to state hands; and that a state lithium company (Corporacion Nacional de los Salares) should be formed for its extraction.",{"type":574,"attrs":650,"content":651},{"textAlign":49},[652],{"text":653,"type":579},"The Bachelet administration has a markedly Socialist-Communist economic outlook due to the left-wing coalition from which it is comprised and the tone of her government is to turn back the neo-liberal clock somewhat to revive past rhetoric of nationalisation, industrialisation and import substitution.",{"type":574,"attrs":655,"content":656},{"textAlign":49},[657],{"text":658,"type":579},"In effect, the commission advocated the nationalisation of lithium, but as this would be negative for Chile’s investor friendly image, the government shied away from calling it what it was and implemented a less overt means to achieve this end.",{"type":574,"attrs":660,"content":661},{"textAlign":49},[662],{"text":663,"type":579},"When current production contracts with Corfo expire, the state will then obtain 51% of the economic benefits going forward. In theory, this policy kicks in when SQM’s contract expires in 2030. It is currently developing a new regulatory framework for private sector lithium exploitation.",{"type":574,"attrs":665,"content":666},{"textAlign":49},[667],{"text":668,"type":579},"The central planning dimension of this policy sees state copper company Codelco co-opted into the lithium space to seek joint venture partners to exploit lithium on its concessions in the Maricunga and Pedernales salt basins – at a time when it has massive capital projects on its hands to ensure that its 100-year old copper mines, Chuiquicamata and El Teniente remain competitive.",{"type":574,"attrs":670,"content":671},{"textAlign":49},[672],{"text":673,"type":579},"Despite how the intent has been couched, this policy threatens to damage Chile’s reputation as a destination for foreign investment. Sensing the thin end of the wedge, this policy drew enquiries from several embassies to see if this tack would be extrapolated to the wider [copper] mining sector, which would have implications for international mining companies.",{"type":574,"attrs":675,"content":676},{"textAlign":49},[677],{"text":678,"type":579},"What’s more, market watchers feel it is myopic.",{"type":574,"attrs":680,"content":681},{"textAlign":49},[682,684,686],{"text":683,"type":579},"“This policy is not worth the effort because lithium represents about $500m in exports [to the country] compared to $34bn. Although lithium is important globally, it is not going to be a game changer for Chile as the country has several much more important products such as wood, cellulose, wine and molybdenum. However, three governments will hold office before 2030 and so this policy is not written in stone and could be changed,” a mining analyst told ",{"text":685,"type":579},"Benchmark Mineral Intelligence",{"text":687,"type":579},".",{"type":574,"attrs":689,"content":690},{"textAlign":49},[691],{"text":692,"type":579},"And whilst lithium exploration has rocketed in Argentina, in Chile it has yet to take off while companies await the new regulatory framework. This is likely to be announced in the third quarter given that state copper company Codelco is due to announce the results of its Maricunga and Pedernales tender process in July or August and the winning bidder will be subject to the conditions of the new framework.",{"type":574,"attrs":694,"content":695},{"textAlign":49},[696],{"text":697,"type":579},"Chile has an open economy and under the constitution it cannot discriminate one sector over another and so whilst the expectation is the government take will increase, this is likely to be through the royalty rather than taxation.",{"type":574,"attrs":699,"content":700},{"textAlign":49},[701],{"text":702,"type":579},"“We don’t know what it will be yet. It doesn’t have to be the same as the royalty for copper but it cannot be very different either,” said Marcelo Awad, executive director of Wealth Minerals, a lithium developer in Chile’s Atacama.",{"type":574,"attrs":704,"content":705},{"textAlign":49},[706],{"text":707,"type":579},"As part of its expansion agreement Rockwood accepted a sliding-scale royalty regime that tops out at 40%, and SQM will likely have to agree to something similar to be able to expand.",{"type":574,"attrs":709,"content":710},{"textAlign":49},[711],{"text":712,"type":579},"“Rockwood is an existing producer that has recovered all its investment and it has never paid a royalty in its 30 years of production, so there is an element of backwards facing royalty here too,” said Awad.",{"type":574,"attrs":714,"content":715},{"textAlign":49},[716],{"text":717,"type":579},"Awad does not expect new entrants to face that royalty regime.",{"type":574,"attrs":719,"content":720},{"textAlign":49},[721],{"text":722,"type":579},"“We expect that the regulatory framework and taxation will not be very distinct than that for other mineral sectors in Chile. The difference is likely to be the royalty. We don’t know what it will be yet. It doesn’t have to be the same as the royalty for copper but it cannot be very different either,” he says.",{"type":574,"attrs":724,"content":725},{"textAlign":49},[726],{"text":727,"type":579},"Added value",{"type":574,"attrs":729,"content":730},{"textAlign":49},[731],{"text":732,"type":579},"The Bachelet government also wants to attract investors to fabricate value-added lithium products in Chile. In April, Corfo launched an international tender to attract companies to develop lithium products, specifically targeting German and Asian companies. Corfo’s tender process gives until June 30th for companies to express interest with preference given to bids for value added to lithium and technological sophistication. A contract is due to be awarded in November.",{"type":574,"attrs":734,"content":735},{"textAlign":49},[736],{"text":737,"type":579},"“At the end of the year, we will have chosen the companies that are going to come to the country to produce green products with added value in the lithium chain. With this, we will give a great step to the reindustrialization of Chile,” said executive vice president Eduardo Bitran during the April launch.",{"type":574,"attrs":739,"content":740},{"textAlign":49},[741],{"text":742,"type":579},"To facilitate this, the government negotiated a 27-year lithium carbonate production agreement with US specialty chemicals company Albemarle subsidiary Rockwood Lithium in 2016 allowing the company to expand lithium production with the caveat that it make a certain amount volume available at preferential prices to upgrade into added value lithium products.",{"type":574,"attrs":744,"content":745},{"textAlign":49},[746],{"text":747,"type":579},"The government may also offer other incentives to entice battery producers to its shores. Awad thinks the government will also provide financial stimulus.",{"type":574,"attrs":749,"content":750},{"textAlign":49},[751],{"text":752,"type":579},"“The government will give some incentive to bring battery producers here but not via direct subsidies. Chile typically allows advanced depreciation, perhaps a three-year period rather than the customary 10-years,” he says.",{"type":574,"attrs":754,"content":755},{"textAlign":49},[756],{"text":757,"type":579},"However, some observers doubt whether battery companies will want to deploy their know-how and intellectual property overseas, which means that its future will be as a producer of intermediate products like lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide, part of its current offering, rather than downstream added-value products.",{"type":574,"attrs":759,"content":760},{"textAlign":49},[761],{"text":762,"type":579},"“The battery market is very conservative and secretive, with a highly-sophisticated product. Unlike the European Union or the US, potential investors will not enjoy the same level of intellectual property protection in Chile and will run the risk of their secrets being exposed,” said the mining analyst, adding that, “it would be very expensive for a battery manufacturer to bring all the other battery material inputs to Chile.”",{"type":574,"attrs":764,"content":765},{"textAlign":49},[],"Chile’s lithium revolution has been hampered by political clashes between government organization, Corfo and Atacama producer, SQM. With Argentina and Australia enacting significant new projects in both brine and hard rock, is there a resolution in sight for the world’s leading producer? By Paul Harris in Colombia Chile is blessed with the most abundant sources […]",[768],{"slug":562,"name":563,"content":769},{"job_title":565,"image":770,"bio":568,"linkedin":569},{"filename":567},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"8f2d46e9-ef5f-45ea-b748-3b9a85042c78\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[774,777,780],{"slug":775,"name":776},"batteries","Batteries",{"slug":778,"name":779},"critical-minerals","Critical Minerals",{"slug":781,"name":8},"lithium","private",{"id":49,"alt":784,"name":784,"focus":784,"title":784,"source":784,"filename":785,"copyright":784,"fieldtype":786,"meta_data":787,"is_external_url":51},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/59019edcb8/bm-chile.png","asset",{"alt":784,"title":784,"source":784,"copyright":784},"Jul 26, 2017","26th July 2017",[],[],1792773945537]