Portugal’s mining strategy may favour copper over lithium
Portugal already has the largest copper mine in the European Union, operated by Lundin Mining.
Chile’s CMF financial regulator rejected an appeal from China’s Tianqi Lithium on Monday over the entity’s ruling that a major lithium tie-up between state-run Codelco and lithium miner SQM can proceed without shareholder approval.
Tianqi, which owns about a fifth of SQM, has repeatedly called for the planned partnership to be put to a shareholders’ vote. Codelco and SQM in May finalized the terms of the deal, which would end up diluting Tianqi’s share in the world’s second-largest lithium producer.
Tianqi did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
If the company wishes to contest the CMF, it has ten days to file an appeal with the Court of Appeals in Santiago, the CMF said in a resolution published on its website.
Codelco and SQM previously said they expected final regulatory approvals to come through within the first few months of 2025, allowing the joint venture to proceed. The partnership would grant SQM the ability to extract lithium in the prized Atacama salt flat through 2060, while giving Codelco, the state copper giant, a major role in Chile’s lithium industry.
(By Fabian Cambero and Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Alexander Villegas)
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