Codelco caps worst year in quarter century with production drop
Production for the last three months of the year was 358,000 metric tons, compared with about 384,000 tons in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Chilean lithium miner SQM and state-run Codelco have reached a memorandum of understanding to form a government-controlled partnership for the future production of the key rechargeable battery metal, the firms said on Wednesday.
The two companies agreed to form a new company in which Codelco will have a majority stake and which will begin a first phase of operations in January 2025, the companies said in statements.
State-controlled public-private partnerships are the key element of President Gabriel Boric’s new lithium mining strategy announced last April aiming to generate more broad-based benefits from surging demand for the ultra-light white metal.
(By Natalia Ramos, Fabian Cambero and Brendan O’Boyle; Editing by David Alire Garcia)
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