Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. (SQM) announced Monday it has entered into a 50/50 joint venture with Lithium Americas Corp. (LAC; Vancouver, BC) to develop the Caucharí-Olaroz lithium project in Argentina after SQM contributed $25 million in exchange for a 50% ownership stake in LAC subsidiary Minera Exar.
LAC CEO Tom Hodgson says that “one of the principal objectives of the jv is to leverage the technical experience of SQM to materially de-risk the development of Caucharí and to successfully advance a project to bring new supply to the market on a timely basis.”
SQM and LAC plans to execute a work and engineering plan immediately, which contemplates completion of an updated definitive feasibility study based on an existing study for Caucharí that was completed by Minera Exar in 2012. The updated study will evaluate economic feasibility for a project with a nameplate production capacity of approximately 40,000 m.t./year of lithium carbonate equivalent.
Sales of lithium and lithium derivatives from SQM’s existing operation in Chile accounted for 13% of revenues in 2015 and the company expects global demand for lithium chemicals to increase 10% this year from the 2015 global lithium demand of approximately 150, 000 m.t.
By Jing Chen
Source: Chemical Week
We are closing the chapter of the Chemicals Import Export Headquarters, and opening a new chapter under the name of Qemetica – a chemical group driving many industries on all continents. Therefore, the change of name is also accompanied by the adoption of the key goals of the business strategy for the next 6 years. – says Kamil Majczak, President of the Management Board.
In its efforts to advance chemical recycling, Neste has successfully conducted its first processing trial run with a new challenging raw material, liquefied discarded tires. In the processing run, Neste produced high-quality raw material for new plastics and chemicals.
Sika is opening a state-of-the-art facility in Lima, Peru, to produce synthetic macro fibers, and expanding the rollout of a product range with great growth potential in Latin America. With this innovative technology, Sika is further strengthening its position as a leading supplier to the mining industry and a strong partner for infrastructure projects.
