{"id":1130228,"date":"2019-08-01T11:55:47","date_gmt":"2019-08-01T16:55:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=998258"},"modified":"2019-08-01T11:55:47","modified_gmt":"2019-08-01T16:55:47","slug":"codelco-salar-blanco-to-develop-lithium-project-in-chiles-north","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1130228","title":{"rendered":"Codelco, Salar Blanco to develop lithium project in Chile\u2019s north."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Chile&#8217;s Codelco, the world&#8217;s top copper miner, has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.codelco.com\/codelco-y-minera-salar-blanco-suscriben-acuerdo-para-estudiar-el\/prontus_codelco\/2019-08-01\/085134.html\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">signed a non-binding agreement<\/a> with foreign-backed miner Salar Blanco to develop a joint lithium project at the little-known Salar de Maricunga salt flat, in the country&#8217;s north.<\/p>\n<div class='d-flex justify-content-center'>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');});<\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The move, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.codelco.com\/codelco-y-minera-salar-blanco-suscriben-acuerdo-para-estudiar-el\/prontus_codelco\/2019-08-01\/085134.html\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">said the state-owned miner<\/a>, is part of the country\u2019s plan to launch a third local lithium operation amid favorable market conditions for the mineral, a key ingredient for batteries that power electric vehicles (EVS).<\/p>\n<p>Salar Blanco, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/lithium-power-closer-start-mining-lithium-chiles-maricunga\/\" >50% owned by Australia&#8217;s Lithium Power International<\/a> (ASX: LPI) with smaller stakes held by Canada\u2019s Bearing Lithium (TSX-V: BRZ) and Chilean magnate Mart\u00edn Borda, sued Codelco last year alleging the copper giant was constitutionally barred from mining lithium. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote alignright\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>Construction on the joint project is expected to begin in 2020 or early 2021, after all permits are obtained and financial structure is finalized,<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The company withdrew the suit after<br \/>\nthe Chilean government granted it a permit to extract lithium from Maricunga,<br \/>\nwhere it owns only 18% of mining rights at a 145 square km site (90 sq. miles).<br \/>\nThe small size of the area, however, pushed it to seek out its neighbours,<br \/>\nincluding Codelco, as partners.<\/p>\n<p>Construction on the joint project is expected to begin in 2020 or early 2021, after all permits are obtained and financial structure is finalized, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.codelco.com\/codelco-y-minera-salar-blanco-suscriben-acuerdo-para-estudiar-el\/prontus_codelco\/2019-08-01\/085134.html\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">Codelco said<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe companies will negotiate the<br \/>\ndefinitive terms of the association that allow them to carry out this<br \/>\ninitiative, combining the experience that both have in the area in order to<br \/>\nmaximize the value for Codelco and MSB,\u201d the copper miner added.<\/p>\n<p>The announcement comes a week after China\u2019s Fulin Transportation Group <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/chinas-fulin-ditches-plans-for-battery-parts-plant-in-chile\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">ditched plans to build a lithium battery plant<\/a> in the country\u2019s north, shattering Chile\u2019s hopes of \u00a0jumpstarting its own lithium battery industry instead of just exporting the raw material.<\/p>\n<p>The South American nation contains<br \/>\nmore than half of the world\u2019s most \u201ceconomically extractable\u201d lithium reserves,<br \/>\naccording to the US Geographical Survey (USGS). It is also the world\u2019s<br \/>\nlowest-cost producer, thanks to an efficient process and the country\u2019s climate.<\/p>\n<p>Maricunga salt flat is far smaller than the vast Salar de<br \/>\nAtacama (actually, less than 5% Atacama\u2019s size), where top lithium producers<br \/>\nUS-based Albemarle and Chile\u2019s SQM dominate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Deal comes comes after a disagreement between the companies over adjoining lithium deposits in the area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1016,369,4,2640],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1130228"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1130228"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1130228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1130327,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1130228\/revisions\/1130327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1130228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1130228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1130228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}