{"id":1202735,"date":"2020-08-20T05:52:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-20T10:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1033264"},"modified":"2020-08-20T05:52:00","modified_gmt":"2020-08-20T10:52:00","slug":"sqm-posts-record-sales-boosts-output-despite-weak-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1202735","title":{"rendered":"SQM posts record sales, boosts output despite weak market"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chile\u2019s SQM (NYSE: SQM), the world\u2019s second largest lithium producer, achieved record second-quarter output levels<\/a> and saw sales volumes soar on renewed optimism about long-term demand for the metal used in the batteries that power electric vehicle batteries and high-tech devices.<\/p>\n

The company said it\u2019s now producing at record levels of roughly 70,000 tonnes for the year, which has allowed it to build higher levels of inventory ahead of an expected demand boom.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven the demand growth expectations in coming years, we feel comfortable with the higher level of inventories that are being built,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

SQM also sold more lithium in the three months to June 30 than in the first quarter, delivering 12,600 tonnes of the white metal, up 45% from the January-March period.<\/p>\n

Weak lithium prices, however, impacted SQM\u2019s bottom line. The Santiago-based miner saw net income fall to $50.8 million, a 27.6% drop when compared to the same period last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that prices will be lower during the second half of the year compared to the prices observed in the first half of the year, although sales volumes should be higher,” chief executive Ricardo Ramos said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While the company expects demand in 2020 to be similar to 2019<\/a>, it remains optimistic about long-term demand growth because of increasing expectations for car sales, EV penetration rates and continued government incentives.<\/p>\n

Under scrutiny<\/strong><\/h2>\n

SQM produces lithium by pumping brine from beneath the Atacama desert, the world\u2019s driest, which it concentrates through evaporation in pools. <\/p>\n

In 2016 Chile\u2019s environmental regulator SMA found that SQM had extracted more brine from the salt flat than permitted. A $25 million compliance plan presented by the company was dismissed by a court in Antofagasta in December<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Despite the company\u2019s appeal, SMA sided in early August with the regional court<\/a>. The regulator is currently re-evaluating SQM\u2019s plan.<\/p>\n

Water has become a bone of contention for the expansion plans of both SQM and top competitor Albemarle (NYSE: ALB), both of which operate in the Atacama desert, where more than a third of global lithium carbonate supply is sourced.<\/p>\n

Chile, which holds about 52% of the world\u2019s known lithium reserves, lost its top lithium producer crown to Australia<\/a> in 2018.<\/p>\n

\"World\u2019s
(Courtesy of Volkswagen | Source: USGS 2019.<\/a><\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The country, however, is working on reversing that situation. It predicts that lithium will soon become its second-largest mining asset, behind copper. The commodity is currently the country\u2019s fourth-biggest<\/a> export. SQM\u2019s own expansion plans are<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The world’s second largest lithium miner, saw sales jump almost 50% and boosted output, but low prices hit profits.<\/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":[1016,2849,949,369,2640],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1202735"}],"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=1202735"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1202735\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1202790,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1202735\/revisions\/1202790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1202735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1202735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1202735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}