The country's state development agency says Albemarle has failed to provide as much as 25% of its annual production at a discount to companies seeking to produce battery metals within Chile, as stipulated in a contract signed in 2016.
About 500,000 electric vehicles (EVs) were sold globally in 2016, a figure that is expected to jump sevenfold by 2022 - U.S. Energy Information Administration
Analysis shows oil consumption growing in coming decades, due to rising petrochemicals, trucking and aviation demand but meeting this growth in the near term means that approvals of conventional oil projects need to double.
China, the leading holder of international deep sea exploration licences, increases its lead in the race for alternative sources of battery minerals by taking samples from cobalt-bearing mountains deep in the Pacific.