Executive interview: Ignacio Mehech, Albemarle’s country manager, Chile

Units of Argentina's state oil firm YPF will start work on a 20,000 hectare area lithium prospecting project in Fiambala.

The venture - between Umicore and Volkswagen's battery unit PowerCo - also plan to collaborate on recycling metals from battery materials.

In a joint statement, the two countries said they agreed to deepen their "strategic partnership on supply chain resiliency".

California Republican congressman Ken Calvert said America must be "clear-eyed about the Chinese and Russian aggression when it comes to consolidating critical mineral resources.”

The US is still dependent on China for minerals to feed its nascent battery manufacturing efforts.

Scorching gains for lithium threaten to push costs even higher for Chinese battery makers.

Electra, Avalon and Snowlake will supply LG with 7,000 tonnes of cobalt sulfate, 55,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide and 200,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide respectively.

Mexico hopes its reserves of the key battery component will help it benefit from a global shift toward electric vehicle production.

The initiative, launched in June, is designed to funnel investment toward developing countries with mining projects that adhere to stricter environmental, social and governance standards.