Royalties for lithium to be set case by case in Chile -minister

Wealth Minerals

30/04/2019 18:39

By Fabian Cambero
    SANTIAGO, April 30 (Reuters) - Chile's mining minister Baldo
Prokurica said royalties for the ultralight battery metal
lithium would be set on a "case-by-case" basis from now on,
using a negotiation model similar to that used with top
producers in Chile's Atacama salt flat.
    State development agency Corfo struck deals with top miners
SQM  SQMa.SN  and Albemarle  ALB.N  in previous years that set a
sliding scale for royalties, depending on the price of the
metal.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N1V000X 
    Prokurica, speaking late Monday, did not specify what rates
would be used as a starting point for any new negotiations.
    "This will be studied on a case by case basis, considering
Corfo's experience with its holdings in the Salar de Atacama,"
Prokurica told Reuters.
    Chile is the world's No. 2 producer of the metal, which is
used in the batteries that power cell phones, electric vehicles
and other consumer goods. Nearly one-third of the world's supply
of lithium comes from Atacama, a sprawling salt flat in the
country's northern desert.
    Several companies, including Wealth Minerals  WML.V ,
Lithium Power International  LPI.AX , and Bearing Lithium
 BRZ.V , among others, are advancing projects in Chile to take
advantage of surging demand.
    Chile's government had been studying various options for
royalty payments, from a system that would put lithium royalties
on par with those of copper, as well as additional taxes to spur
development in the regions where the metal is mined.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N1W010X

 (Reporting by Fabian Cambero, writing by Dave Sherwood
Editing by James Dalgleish)
 ((dave.sherwood@thomsonreuters.com; +56 9 9138 1047, +56 2 2370
4224))