translated from Spanish: BE rejected environmental study of Albemarle and lithium mining cuts ambitions in Chilean market

The world’s largest producer of lithium plans to expand its production in Australia, in search of a form of metal ever more used by manufacturers of electric car batteries.
Albemarle Corp. It will suspend for now plans to expand its production of carbonate of lithium in Chile, said the company last Thursday. Instead, it will inject the funds into a project of Western Australia that produces Lithium hydroxide, a rarer form of the metal that is growing in use and which is now sold at prices higher than the carbonate.
The decision facing Oceania happens before they knew that environmental assessment (SEA) of Antofagasta service rejected the environmental study of a new plant of lithium carbonate of the U.S. mining in the commune of mussels.
The initiative is considered an investment of US$ 583,5 million and an estimated 42,500 tons production capacity.
“By virtue of the background and arguments, corresponds terminate prospectively to the project’s environmental impact assessment procedure, by how much is missing essential information”, said the SEA in its resolution.
In the Declaration of environmental impact (DIA) of the project “holder does not have the necessary background allowing to rule out that the project generates significant adverse effects on the quantity and quality of natural resources renewable, including the” soil, water and air”, points out the body.
It is worth mentioning that lithium mining companies have struggled to meet the demand, and prices for the metal have tripled in just four years.
“The difficulty at this point in the cycle is that lithium companies must increase their capital spending in the midst of uncertainty over the price of lithium,” said telephone Chris Berry, analyst and founder of the firm’s New York House Mountain Partners website LLC on Thursday. “So Albemarle maintained its market share with such robust growth in demand, the company needs to execute their plans for capacity expansion to perfection”.
Despite the rejection of the SEA Albemarle plans to increase the total production of lithium in its operations in Chile, China and Australia to 225,000 tons a year by 2025 from 65,000 tons in 2017, said the company in its earnings report. In just four years, lithium has gone from being the least important product of Albemarle representing a 44.5 per cent of the company’s revenues in 2017.
And now, Albemarle has five days to appeal to the resolution of the SEA.
The company based in Charlotte, North Carolina, published mixed results for the third quarter, prompting a drop of action of 2 per cent to 4:15 p.m. to the US$ 105,57 in trading in New York. Capital expenditures increased, reaching record levels, but Albemarle did not meet sales estimates.

Original source in Spanish