Private companies assume responsibility for Chilean control over the exploitation of lithium in Codelco

San Diego May 9 -- a foreign mining company has sued Chile to stop state-owned Codelco from mining lithium, both companies claiming that a lawsuit filed in March would be carefully watched by potential investors as the country's new government.

The little-known remote area of the Malikanga salt flats is much smaller than the expanded Salal Atacama, where the top lithium producers Albemarle and Chile's SQM dominate.

But Maliken's legal conflict under President Saibasidian·piniela's new conservative government could become a bellwether for foreign miners eager to invest in Chile, which accounts for half of the world's lithium reserves.

The conflict has made Salar Blanco, which is owned by Australian Lithium International Co., Ltd., with a 50-inch stake in the Canadian Bearing Lithium Mine and a smaller stake held by the local capital against the state-owned copper miner Codelco, which is known for its lithium mine protection.

Lithium is one of the world's hottest products and a key component of rechargeable batteries, powering various power sources such as mobile phones, tablets, and electric cars.

In the final days of March, the former center-left government granted Codelco's license to operate in Maricunga-a crucial first step for the copper mine to enter the lithium mine for the first time.

At the same time, the country's Nuclear Energy Commission Chen granted Salar Blanco a license to extract approximately 473,135 tons of lithium carbonate within 30 years. It sees lithium as a strategic resource on the grounds of its potential use inspecial fusion.

However, Salar Blanco stated that Codelco's permit overlapped with his property, claiming that shortly after Pinera came to power, its proceedings before the Santiago Court of Appeal were wrongly issued in mid-March. The case has led Codelco to conduct a search of Maricunga's partners.

In a statement to the Court, Codelco stated that Salar Blanco would only sue after deciding not to participate in the Codelco tender.

The Minister of Mines, Baldo Prokurica, told Reuters in April that he wanted a quick fix.

"The worst that could happen is that it delays and slows the development of lithium," Puluokuliqia said.

Lithium chief executive Madinghaoweier said in an interview that he hopes the lawsuit will be resolved within six months.

"With the new center-right government… I want to attract foreign investment into the country, and I think it will be resolved soon, not later, "he said.

A turning point?

The 90 square miles (145 square kilometers) of Malikunga is less than 5% of the size of the Salar de Atacama Mountains. However, SalarBlanco calls it one of the “highest grade salt and salt” in the world.

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The company's license to extract lithium shows that the company has invested about 30 million U.S. dollars in Malikongjia, which investors regard as an unprecedented heavy tool for the government's lithium industry.

"The Chilean government is marking the end of these obstacles with this new extraction and export license," Shidifukekelun, chief executive of the Chilean government, said in a statement in March. "

Salar Blanco initially tried to work with Codelco of Maricunga, but the Netherlands stated that it withdrew its bid after ending Codelco's stake was not "in a favorable position" for deposits.

SQM, the country's largest producer of lithium, will be watching the lawsuit.

The contract signed in January required Codelco and SQM to consider establishing a partnership in Maricunga, leading to the end of the long-standing dispute between SQM and the Government.

But a senior Codelco executive told Reuters in April that it would be "very difficult" for any such association with SQM to agree in 2017 to pay more than $30 million in fines to US regulators to settle corruption cases.

The Dutch told Reuters that the Salar Blanco had also held discussions with SQM.

"We 've had a lot of discussions with them over the years, and I'm going to drop it," he said.

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