Chile's national copper company paid $202 million for its first lithium mine
2023 11/03
Chile's "Courier" October 17 news, Chile's national copper company (Codelco) plans to acquire Australia's Lithium Energy International Company (LPI) for $202 million, which is Codelco's first acquisition of lithium mining projects, and has entered the due diligence stage. LPI has a "white" lithium mine project in Malikunga Salt Lake, with an intended investment of about $527 million and an expected annual production of about 20,000 tons. At the same time, Codelco is negotiating with the Chilean Chemical Mining Company (SQM) on the Atacama Salar, Codelco insists on owning more than 51 percent of the salt lake, while SQM will have the right to operate in the Maricunga Salt Lake. At present, more than a dozen companies have ownership in the Marikunga Salt Lake. To that end, Codelco submitted documents to Chile's mining ministry a year ago regarding its application to become the sole mining company in the salt lake. In this regard, the country's mining ministry is analyzing and discussing through legal affairs.