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Chile state development agency Corfo said on Thursday it reached a deal with world top lithium miner Albemarle Corp in a long-running contract dispute and would not file a previously threatened arbitration suit against the U.S-based producer.
The dispute centered around a contract term that requires Albemarle to provide as much as 25 percent of its annual production of lithium at a discount to companies seeking to produce battery metals within Chile.
Corfo and Albemarle had disagreed on how much to discount the lithium, prompting the threat of arbitration
Corfo and Albemarle had disagreed on how much to discount the lithium, prompting the threat of arbitration.
Albemarle’s President of Lithium, Eric Norris, said that Thursday´s deal with Corfo was “in line with what we expected our commitment on preferential pricing and terms to be.”
“The agreed upon process will have no material impact on our anticipated earnings growth, margins or other financial results,” Norris said in a statement.
The contract clause that requires Albemarle to provide the ultralight battery metal at a reduced price was intended to help spur a value-added lithium industry in Chile.
Lithium is an important ingredient in the batteries that power cell phones, electric vehicles and other consumer goods.
In March, Corfo awarded contracts to Chile’s Molymet, China’s Sichuan Fulin Industrial Group and a joint venture between Samsung SDI Co Ltd and South Korea’s POSCO to produce battery components in Chile using the discounted lithium from the Atacama salt flat, for a total investment of $754 million.
Those projects had been delayed pending resolution of the dispute between Corfo and Albemarle.
(Reporting by Dave Sherwood Editing by Tom Brown).
