Business a.m.

Chile to delay arbitratio­n with top lithium producer

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CHILE WILL DELAY A PRE VIOUSLY announced arbitratio­n with Albemarle Corp, the world’s top lithium producer, in anticipati­on that the U.S.based miner will make a new offer to bring it into compliance with a 2016 contract, a source close to the negotiatio­ns told Reuters.

Under the contract, U.S.based Albemarle had agreed to provide as much as 25 percent of its annual production at a discount to companies seeking to produce battery metals within Chile.

But state developmen­t agency Corfo, which leases mining rights to Albemarle in the lithium-rich Salar de Atacama, had in October threatened to refer the dispute to the Paris-based Internatio­nal Chamber of Commerce, saying the miner had failed to make a “serious” offer to the companies, thus violating the terms of its contract.

The source with knowledge of the negotiatio­ns told Reuters attorneys for Albemarle and Corfo had continued conversati­ons recently and that Corfo anticipate­d Albemarle would soon make a more favorable offer.

Albemarle did not immediatel­y respond to requests for comment.

Albemarle had previously said it regretted the disagreeme­nt, but decried what it considered the “substantia­l difference” between the contractua­l agreement and what Corfo is now demanding.

The contract clause that requires Albemarle to provide the ultralight battery metal at a reduced price is intended to help spur a value-added lithium industry.

In March, Corfo awarded contracts to Chile’s Molymet, China’s Sichuan Fulin Industrial Group and a joint venture between Samsung SDI Co Ltd and South Korea’s POSCO to produce battery components in Chile using discounted lithium from the Atacama, for a total investment of $754 million.

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