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Source: AFP
Chile's state-owned copper elephantine Codelco announced a concern connected Monday with British-Australian miner Rio Tinto to extract lithium from a brackish level that contains the world's second-biggest deposits of the prized metal.
Mining companies are scrambling to get their hands connected lithium, a cardinal constituent successful electrical car and smartphone batteries.
Argentina, Bolivia and Chile unneurotic signifier the alleged Lithium Triangle, location to 60 percent of the world's deposits of the metal, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).
The Maricunga brackish level successful bluish Chile is 2nd lone to the Atacama brackish level connected Chile's borderline with Bolivia successful presumption of its attraction of lithium successful brine.
Codelco, the world's biggest copper producer, said that Rio Tinto would put $900 cardinal to get a 49.99 percent involvement successful the associated venture, called Salar Maricunga SpA.
Codelco itself would clasp a controlling involvement of 50.01 percent, it added.
Chile is the world's second-biggest shaper aft Australia of the metallic dubbed "white gold."
Currently, each Chile's lithium comes from the Atacama brackish flat.
In 2023, Chilean President Gabriel Boric launched a program to boost output by processing public-private partnerships to harness different deposits.
Codelco president Maximo Pacheco said the caller venture, which is expected to beryllium finalized by the extremity of March 2026, was portion of the company's diversification strategy.
With a beingness successful 35 countries, British-Australian multinational Rio Tinto is the world's second-biggest mining conglomerate aft Australia's BHP.
It already has stakes successful lithium projects successful Argentina and Serbia.
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Source: AFP
