Chile's Lithium Nationalization Plans Spark Industry Concerns and Opportunities.
Chile plans to start talks with SQM over its lithium operations in the Atacama to convince the world's No. 2 lithium mining company to sign onto a state-led public-private model. The state miner Codelco will start talks over public-private lithium production "as soon as possible." The strategy includes a new national lithium company, which congress must approve, but the government believes Codelco has the "capacity to assume new challenges" as well as the "scale and know-how" to deal with lithium.