Government of Chile hopes to define the model that the national lithium company will have, before the end of the year

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Chilean government hopes to have defined before the end of the year the model that a promised national lithium company will have to develop the listed light metal, Mining Minister Marcela Hernando was quoted as saying by a local newspaper on Sunday.

In the South American country, the world’s second largest producer of the key component for electric car batteries, only the private giants Albemarle and SQM operate with facilities in the rich Salar de Atacama.

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In an interview with the morning newspaper La Tercera, Hernando said that a specialized group is being formed to define the best design to operate the company.

“We hope to have the proposal for the institutionality of this company and the business model in which it will operate before the end of the year,” said the minister.

As she explained to legislators in March, the official reiterated that she is open to private capital participation in the company, although with the State as the main shareholder.

During his campaign, President Gabriel Boric said that Chile could not commit the “historic mistake” of privatizing its resources again and reiterated his interest in creating the company for its development.

On the other hand, Hernando assured that lithium would not be included in the plans to apply a mining royalty, as part of an ambitious tax agenda promoted by the government.

“The evaluations that we have made is that it is very complex, since lithium is an industry that is not very mature,” she said in the interview.

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