Argentina tripled lithium carbonate production capacity in last two years
Argentina, the world's No. 4 lithium producer, has four projects in production.
Chilean copper giant Codelco is preparing new legal actions in its dispute with Anglo American (LSE:AAL) as the company is not satisfied with the documents submitted Wednesday to a civil court by the London-based company.
Codelco lawyer Francisco Pfeffer, told local newspaper La Tercera that there is no evidence the translated contracts submitted by Anglo yesterday comply with what the civil court ordered. He added that the state-owned miner would request an official translation of those documents and release statement after that.
However, Chief financial officer of Codelco Thomas Keller, told Financial Times the miner is already considering “additional measures” to protect its rights in a dispute that may last years, as reported in February by MINING.com.
Such a move, reports FT, would be the first time that the conflict between the two companies over a mine in Chile has threatened to directly impact Anglo’s ability to pay dividends.
The legal route is risky for both groups. Cynthia Carroll, Anglo chief executive, is under pressure from shareholders, who are frustrated that it approved a $2.8bn expansion of the star Los Bronces mine without having full ownership. But Codelco’s management, led by Diego Hernández, a Chilean national who until recently was a senior executive at BHP Billiton, risks embarrassment if Chilean courts rule in favour of the London-listed company.
The conflict between the companies goes back to November last year, when Codelco decided to exercise an option and Anglo American responded by selling a 24.5% stake in its southern Chilean division to Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp. for $5.39 billion. By doing this, Anglo undermined plans by Codelco to exercise its option, something that copper miner would only have been able to do in January.
A failed attempt by Codelco to force Mitsubishi to hand over the particulars of the deal in December drove the Chilean company back to the courts by formally informing Anglo American that it was “exercising its legal option” to buy the contested 49% in Anglo Sur.
