More than 50 companies have expressed interest in developing lithium projects in Chile, Finance Minister Mario Marcel announced on last week.
This follows the government’s recent call for proposals to explore various salt flats rich in the battery metal.
In April, Chile, the world’s largest copper producer, invited proposals to develop lithium projects across more than two dozen under-explored salt flats.
The Atacama and Maricunga brine deposits, however, have been reserved for state control.
Fifty-four firms from ten countries submitted expressions of interest to develop 88 projects through the public process, which concluded on Monday, Marcel said at an event in Santiago.
“There are investors of different sizes, including local and many foreign investors,” Marcel noted. “There is clearly a very broad interest in investing in this industry.”
The mining ministry will later provide details on the salt flats that have received overlapping proposals.
In April, Chile’s mining minister stated that there would be a tender process if more than one company expressed interest in a single site.
Investors have raised concerns about how the government will award lithium contracts in salt flats where mining concessions have already been granted, potentially creating issues of double ownership.
Chile aims to strengthen its position in the lithium industry, which is the world’s second largest after Australia, through both state-led projects and private investment.
At the same event in Santiago, US Ambassador to Chile Bernadette Meehan said US companies have shown “intense interest” in extracting lithium and producing components that use the material, such as batteries.
“US companies and Western companies are interested in all the lithium opportunities announced by the government of Chile,” she said.
Currently, only US firm Albemarle and local miner SQM produce lithium in Chile. Last month, SQM signed an agreement with state-run giant Codelco to launch a majority state-run joint venture in the Atacama salt flat. Codelco is also seeking a partner for a significant new lithium project in the Maricunga salt flat.
