They claim it won’t be possible to cut costs enough to offset the higher levies, and warn that some miners may need to pass on this new cost increase to the industrial production chain.
The two firms are just the latest names in a long list of companies that includes major players such as Rio Tinto, interested in grabbing a stake in Chile’s Chemical and Mining Society (SQM).
London hedge fund giant Lansdowne Partners lost a long-term bet against Glencore this year after the spectacular recovery of the miner took some by surprise.
The mining veteran could face competition from internal candidates, including former head of UK gas company Centrica, Sam Laidlaw, who now sits on Rio’s board.
EuroChem Group AG spending over $6bn on two mines to produce potash, a mineral found deep in the Earth that’s prized for its ability as soil fertilizer.
Mining giant is eying the 32% interest in SQM that PotashCorp is selling to fulfill China's regulators condition for the approval of the its friendly merger with smaller rival Agrium.
Aggregate market cap of the top 100 junior mining companies was up 7% to $12.2 billion, a level not seen since 2010, but the group significantly underperformed the Venture Exchange as a whole.