Lithium Power International (LPI) has verified that it is in discussions with Chilean state-run copper miner Codelco for a potential collaboration to mine for lithium in South America.
In April, Chile announced a new national strategy to exploit lithium in South America by means of public-private partnerships.
The state will acquire a majority stake in crucial operations, while private firms will continue to keep control of non-critical projects under the new approach.
Strategic investments in South American lithium projects
The negotiation of the government’s interest in Albemarle’s and SQM’s lithium operations in South America, the only two current operational mines in Chile, has been delegated to Codelco.
In addition to this, Codelco, with state miner Enami, has been entrusted with securing partners for future projects. Eventually, a national lithium company will take over these responsibilities.
This comes as LPI hit headlines in July by scrapping the demerger of its Western Australian lithium assets in favour of an A$30M sale of three projects to US giant Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB).
The move came as a part of the company’s strategy to focus on its flagship Maricunga lithium brine project, the largest permitted brine project in Chile.
“Despite the significant progress we had made towards an IPO of Western Lithium in the past months, this asset realisation will provide a significant uplift to the pre-money valuation of our Western Australia asset portfolio,” explained Cristóbal García-Huidobro, LPI’s Chief Executive.
Lithium in South America is extremely promising
Additionally, Codelco has explored the Maricunga salt flat for several years, up until May 2023, with the company announcing it believes the area has the world’s second-highest lithium concentration.
“So far, the numbers show a promising path for our company and especially for lithium in South America,” said Máximo Pacheco, President of Codelco’s board of directors.
“Of 132 samples analysed in the laboratory, which were extracted from ten wells, we have obtained concentrations ranging between 517 and 1,787mg/l, with an average of 1,073mg/l and a median of 978 mg/l.”
With the world’s most prevalent copper producer having rounded up its work at Maricunga, the doors are now open to interested partners to continue exploration for lithium in South America.
