The company foresees annual production of over 436,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate.

The deal comes a day after a deadline expired for CATL to respond to the Lithium Americas offer.

The company is leading the construction of a 290,000 square-foot, first-of-its-kind electric vehicle battery R&D center and pilot line in Slovakia.

People are buying electric vehicles now, partly because the climate is simmering closer to a boil and partly because the auto industry is finally making appealing battery-powered machines in volume.

Fitch has revised up significantly both its lithium carbonate and hydroxide price forecasts from 2021 to 2026 to incorporate higher global EV sales assumptions.

The Nov. 21 presidential vote, the first since months of angry protests over inequality rocked Chile in 2019, has become a polarized battle between a leftist coalition led by 35-year-old protest leader Gabriel Boric and ultraconservative José Antonio Kast.