Chile’s development agency, Corfo, and the world’s leading lithium mining company, SQM SA, reached an agreement to almost quadruple lithium-carbonate production by 2025 and to join Albermale in the country’s storage and electrification development programme.

Through the new agreement, which was reached in the Chilean arbitration courts after three years of dispute over unpaid royalties and alleged environmental licensing problems, SQM has been allowed to increase its yearly quota to 216 million tonnes by 2025 from a current 66 tonnes a year through a concession that ends in 2030.