Chile strengthens cooperation with China in the lithium sector

Chile will continue to strengthen cooperation with China in the lithium sector in order to stabilize global supplies of the mineral, which is important for manufacturing batteries. This was reiterated by Chilean Consul-General in Chengdu, southwest China’s Sichuan Province, Gustavo Díaz Hidalgo on Wednesday (9 May).

The remark was made at the 2022 China (Suining) International Conference on the Lithium Battery Industry and the Symposium on New Energy Vehicles and the Power Battery Industry” held in Suining, Sichuan Province by the Consulate General. Diaz predicted that global demand for lithium will top 1 million tons annually by 2025 and reach around 2.5 million tons by 2030.

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China’s lithium consumption accounts for sixty-five percent of the global lithium market, according to the consul-general, due in part to the rapidly developing new energy vehicle sector and energy storage industry, as well as the country’s carbon emission reduction targets.

“Chilean lithium mining and export has increased thanks to strong demand from the Chinese market and has become one of the main Chilean exports,” the Consul General said during the conference, noting that Chile’s share of the world lithium supply has reached 38%. He also mentioned that Chile is building an operating system for the domestic lithium mining industry and an innovation mechanism for relevant products including batteries.

Chile has one of the largest lithium deposits in the world. The Atacama Salt Flats in northern Chile have 8.3 million tons of lithium reserves, which is 22% of the world total.

“Tianqi Lithium”, one of the largest lithium producers in China, concluded a cooperation agreement with the Chilean lithium mining company “SQM” in 2018 for the joint development of the Atacama salt flats.

With information from latinapress