Chile’s Enami eyes lithium license in boost to partner search
Chilean authorities are expected to grant Enami a lithium operating license by year-end, paving the way for the State company to secure partners to develop the project.
All six local indigenous communities have given their consent for the Altoandinos project to proceed in salt flats in the northern desert, allowing for permits to be granted, according to Enami chief executive officer Ivan Mlynarz.
“The commitment of the Mining Ministry is for that to happen by the end of December,” he said in an interview Wednesday.
Altoandinos would be the first project to go through community consultation and permitting under President Gabriel Boric’s public-private approach to opening up new extraction areas in a bid to double output. While the state will control projects in Chile’s two biggest salt flats, Enami has been cleared to hand over control of Altoandinos to a private group. Prospective partners are betting lithium will recover from near three-year lows as a glut works its way through battery supply chains after electric-vehicle demand slowed just as new supply came on stream.
The state company has shortlisted four would-be developers — Rio Tinto Group, China’s BYD Co, France’s Eramet and Posco Holdings of South Korea. Two other firms — China’s CNGR Advanced Material Co and LG Energy Solution — are in the running to put up financing in exchange for a share of production.
A final decision on Altoandinos partners is scheduled for April or May, Mlynarz said. In a parallel process, companies are vying to provide direct lithium extraction technology for the project. Chile is pushing the use of DLE as a greener alternative to the conventional evaporation technique.
Altoandinos, comprised of three salt flats in the Atacama region, is forecast to churn out 20 000 metric tons a year by 2032 and triple that by 2037. That would require investment of $800-million to $1-billion.
Comments
Research Reports
Latest Multimedia
Showroom
Klüber Lubrication ensures that the world’s essential systems—drive units, machines, and water flow—operate efficiently, sustainably, and reliably...
VISIT SHOWROOM
ISO-certified Condra manufactures overhead cranes, portal cranes, cantilever cranes and crane components: hoists, drives, end-carriages, brakes and...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
