“It is bad news for Chile”: Boric criticizes Piñera’s government for lithium bidding process

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – President-elect Gabriel Boric described the lithium tender as “bad news”, even though Minister Juan Carlos Jobet assured that all agreements with the incoming administration had been fulfilled.

The controversy went on for months. Finally, in advance, the Ministry of Mining announced the expected announcement of the winners of the bid where the exploitation rights for 400 thousand tons of lithium in the north of Chile were on the table.

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The final deadline was Friday, but finally, it was revealed that the winners were the Chinese automotive giant ByD and the national company Servicios y Operaciones Mineras del Norte.

And here, a first peculiarity already appears, there were five quotas at stake, and only two were awarded—80 thousand tons each, for which the companies offered US$60 million.

The president-elect, Gabriel Boric, addressed this decision and said that this is NOT good news for Chile. He even spoke of a tie-up policy, reiterating that they wanted to postpone the process.

He said that he did not know the details of the awarding conditions and that they would review them.

“To me, it does not seem to be good news, it is bad news for Chile and as I say, we will review it together with our teams when we take over”, said Boric.

The minister of Energy and Mining, Juan Carlos Jobet, responded to the criticisms of the president-elect, assuring that they followed the recommendations of Boric’s team since the funds collected will be destined to local communities and research and development.

“He accepts the suggestions that his advisors made to us: funds will be destined to local communities and research and development. And because it incorporates two new players into an industry where for more than 25 years only two companies have operated without competition,” said Jobet.

UPSET IN CONGRESS

This, however, opens up a complex political scenario for Boric. One of the opposition’s criticisms was the timing of this announcement, pointing out that they expect a more protagonist role from the incoming government because they have “legitimized” this process.

But in Congress, everything was seen, there was a special session at 3 p.m., where the minister arrived late, unleashing annoyance. “Armed robbery”, lithium is sold “at an egg price,” are part of the criticisms that were heard.

This was pointed out by the socialist deputy, Jaime Naranjo, and the regionalist Esteban Velásquez of the Economy and Mining Commissions.

Among other data, what has just been awarded represents 1.8% of the total known reserves of lithium in Chile, less than half of what was being tendered, for which the State will receive – in the first instance – US$121 million.

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