Chile Expects to Announce Results Related to 88 Lithium Development Proposals by Next Year

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Written by Amir Richani for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Chile received 88 lithium project development proposals for its salt flats, showcasing the private sector's strong interest in its lithium resources, Chilean ministers of finance and mines said at a July 9 press conference.

Out of those, 53 account for proposals in 16 salt flats, while another 28 were for other type of deposits. Seven of the proposals were made on zones excluded from the process.

Eight proposals were received for the Arica and Parinacota areas, 24 for Tarapaca, 40 in Antofagasta, and 16 for Atacama, where some of the world's largest salt flats are located.

Companies from 10 countries participated in the process, with 16% of the projects presented by consortiums or joint ventures. More than 80% of the proposals suggested using direct lithium extraction (DLE) as its production technology.

"The many expressions of interest received reflect the great value that the exploration, exploitation, and processing of lithium in our country has for the international market. The quantity and quality of the information obtained from this process will be of utmost importance for the definition of the lithium deposits on which the State will begin the process of assigning (extraction contracts) to the private sector, as well as for the definition of the mechanisms for assigning said contracts," said Minister of Mining Aurora Williams.

The next steps for approving these projects include public and indigenous consultations, which can take several months. Based on the minister of finance statement, the government expects that decisions on these proposals could be revealed by April or May 2025.

Last year, the Chilean government announced the national lithium strategy, which granted state access to some of the nation's strategic salt flats, such as Atacama and Maricunga. As part of this, private companies operating in those areas, such as SQM, started negotiations with state companies, such as Codelco.

SQM (Santiago, Chile) and Codelco (Santiago) have already signed a joint venture agreement for SQM's Atacama and Maricunga projects that will begin in 2025.

Following that process, the Chilean government also opened several salt flats for private development proposals to speed up lithium mining and grant opportunities to the private sector.

"For those who, at the time, saw the National Lithium Strategy as a strategy absolutely focused on public activity, who went so far as to talk about nationalization of lithium, who have insisted a lot on the delay in the development of this industry, what we are seeing today is a total refutation. These results that have been presented are expressions of interest from the private sector--in a significant number of salt flats, with a significant number of participants--with the possibility of developing projects within the timeframes that are within the horizon that we set for ourselves," said Minister of Finance Mario Marcel.

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