Chile’s economic development agency said it reached an agreement with U.S.-based Albemarle to establish an option to increase its production quota by 240,000 metric tons of lithium metal equivalent (LME), reported Reuters.
The increase would raise Albemarle’s production quota by close to 50%, from about 460,000 metric tons of LME currently.
CORFO said that Albemarle would need to prove its ability to use sustainable technology such as direct lithium extraction, consult local indigenous communities, and obtain environmental permits to access the higher quota.
“This establishes a series of clauses that let us anticipate production with higher sustainability standards in the Salar de Atacama,” CORFO Vice President Jose Miguel Benavente said.
The agreement, noted Reuters, is part of a settlement reached in April that calls for Albemarle to pay $15 million to resolve a complaint made by CORFO in 2021 with the International Chamber of Commerce, in which it argued the company had underpaid commissions to the state.
The deal also outlines new terms for setting a “preferential price” for producers of lithium products in Chile. CORFO said the changes were aimed at helping those companies “come to an agreement with Albemarle in a better way and with greater flexibility for a long-term supply of lithium carbonate.”
Albemarle is one of two companies producing lithium in Chile.
Source: Reuters