Chile’s mining minister Baldo Prokurica said royalties for the ultralight battery metal lithium would be set on a "case-by-case" basis from now on, using a negotiation model similar to that used with top producers in Chile’s Atacama salt flat. State development agency Corfo struck deals with top miners SQM and Albemarle in previous years that set a sliding scale for royalties, depending on the price of the metal.