SANTIAGO: Chinese automaker BYD and metals group Tsingshan are backing out of multi-million dollar plans to build lithium cathode plants in Chile, the country’s economic development agency said on Wednesday.
The retreat by the two huge Chinese companies is a blow to Chile’s aim to develop more domestic processing of lithium, a key metal for electric vehicle batteries. Chile is the world’s no. 2 lithium producer.
Both projects were hit by plunging lithium prices, said government economic development agency Corfo, which in 2023 had tapped BYD and Tsingshan for a preferential lithium price deal as part of its efforts to spur investment in Chile.
“The companies selected by Corfo have been affected in their investment decisions by the global market conditions, which have shown a sharp drop in prices,” Corfo said in a statement.
Tsingshan told Reuters it has withdrawn plans for a $233 million project to produce 120,000 metric tons of lithium iron phosphate (LFP). Chile’s national assets ministry told Reuters that BYD filed an intent to withdraw its plans in January.
BYD, the world’s biggest maker of electric cars, declined to comment. BYD last year flagged delays to a planned $290 million plant, which was expected to produce 50,000 metric tons per year of LFP for cathodes.
Chilean newspaper Diario Financiero first reported the scrapped investments.
Chile’s effort in 2018 to encourage lithium-related investments via a pricing deal also fell apart. Chilean chemical company Molymet, China’s Sichuan Fulin Transportation Group Co. , and a joint venture between Korean firms Posco and Samsung for various reasons withdrew their plans.
Tsingshan and BYD would have had access to preferential prices of lithium produced by Chilean miner SQM through 2030, a timeframe that Corfo said also may have influenced the withdrawal of the projects.
In addition, Corfo said Tsingshan had wanted to assign the project development to a unit of the company that had not participated in the bidding process, which Corfo said was not possible.
Corfo last week opened a second bidding process for a similar scheme, this time to provide a purchasing deal with US lithium producer Albemarle through 2043 for companies that commit to lithium-related projects.
Albemarle and the selected investors will be able to use an “alternative form” to determine a price agreement, Corfo said.
China’s BYD, Tsingshan scrap plans for Chile lithium plants as prices plunge
https://arab.news/c466z
China’s BYD, Tsingshan scrap plans for Chile lithium plants as prices plunge
- Retreat a blow to Chile’s aim to develop more domestic processing of lithium
- Chile is the world’s no. 2 producer of the key metal for electric vehicle batteries
Trump tells Britain he does not need its help to win Iran war
- Rejects deployment of UK aircraft carriers to help the US and Israel in their war with Iran
- Trump was reacting to reports that the UK was preparing the Prince of Wales aircraft carrier for possible deployment
Trump was reacting to reports that the UK was preparing the Prince of Wales aircraft carrier for possible deployment
DOVER, US: President Donald Trump said on Saturday that Britain is giving “serious thought” to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East, but added that the US does not need them to win the war with Iran, in the latest clash between the military allies.
“The United Kingdom, our once Great Ally, maybe the Greatest of them all, is finally giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East,”
Trump said. "That’s OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don’t need them any longer,” Trump posted to his Truth Social account.
“But we will remember,” he said. “We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!“
Trump posted the message shortly after attending the return of the first six US service members killed in the Middle East war, at Dover Airforce Base in the northeastern state of Delaware.
British media reports say the Royal Navy is preparing the HMS Prince Wales, an aircraft carrier currently at Portsmouth in southern England, for possible deployment to the Middle East, but no final decision had been made.
Trump has said he is “not happy with the UK,” mocking Starmer by saying “this is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with.”
The social media post comes after the British Ministry of Defense said on Saturday it was preparing the Prince of Wales aircraft carrier for possible deployment.
But no final decision has been taken about whether to deploy the aircraft carrier to the Middle East, a British official said.
Starmer has defended his decision not to allow US forces to use British bases to support initial strikes on Iran, saying he needed to be satisfied that any military action was legal and well planned.
He later granted US forces permission to use British bases for what he called defensive strikes against Iranian missiles in storage depots or launchers.
Starmer earlier this year criticized Trump’s desire to buy Greenland and said his comments that European troops avoided frontline combat in the war in Afghanistan were “frankly appalling.”
