The Chilean national economic development agency, Corfo, which owns the lithium-rich Salar de Atacama, has opened a dispute with United States-based lithium producer Albemarle to seek an interpretation by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) of a contract between the two.
The contract between Corfo and Albemarle was signed in April 2017. It says that Albemarle would have to sell as much as 25% of its lithium production from Atacama at a preferential price to another company or companies willing to invest in the production of value-added lithium materials in Chile.Corfo made a call for such investors in May 2017. This resulted in a shortlist published on March 9 this year from which Corfo selected Molymet, Samsung SDI and Sichuan Fulin Industrial Group. They will be permitted to buy as much as 25% of Albemarle's lithium output, which totals 20,000 tonnes per year at the moment, at preferential prices.Corfo has a similar agreement with Chile-based lithium producer SQM, which shares the Salar de Atacama with Albemarle.The three investor companies are expected to put $754 million into Chile and to create more than 650 new jobs once their projects start. No time-frame...