(Bloomberg) -- Rio Tinto Group and BYD Co. were selected among prospective partners to develop lithium assets in Chile as part of efforts to tap more of the world’s biggest reserves of the battery metal despite slumping prices.
State-owned Enami released a shortlist of would-be partners for its early-stage Altoandinos project in the salt flats of Chile’s northern desert. The list, disclosed Thursday, also includes China’s CNGR Advanced Material Co. and France’s Eramet SA as well as LG Energy Solution Ltd. and Posco Holdings Inc. of South Korea.
The process is part of Chilean President Gabriel Boric’s agenda to open up new areas to lithium extraction in a bid to double output. While the state will control projects in Chile’s two biggest salt flats, Enami has the scope to negotiate terms with private partners. A final decision on Altoandinos partners is scheduled for the end of March.
The selected companies are betting lithium prices will recover from three-year lows as a glut works its way through battery supply chains after electric-vehicle demand slowed just as new supply came on stream.
Iron ore behemoth Rio Tinto is expanding into minerals like lithium that are important for the energy transition. The London-based firm is among participants in a parallel process to chose a direct lithium extraction technology for Altoandinos. Chile is pushing the use of DLE as a greener alternative to the conventional evaporation technique.
For Chinese EV juggernaut BYD, the project would help secure future supply of a key ingredient in rechargeable batteries. BYD is also negotiating terms with Chilean authorities for a project to turn semi-processed lithium into a cathode material.
Altoandinos, comprised of three undeveloped salt flats in the Atacama region, will churn out 20,000 metric tons by 2032 and triple that by 2037, according to government projections. Enami boss Ivan Mlynarz said in June that he hoped promising initial drilling results would help secure partners.
Enami, which continues to seek operating permits, will negotiate with the shortlisted firms to choose a partner “for the operation and/or contribute to the financing” of the project, it said.
(Adds detail on lithium strategies in fifth and sixth paragraphs.)
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