Chilean copper giant in first lithium deal with $385m ASX takeover
Lithium Power International has sold itself to state-owned Corporacion Nacional del Cobre de Chile for $385 million, as the mineral-rich South American economy bulks up its critical minerals resources projects.
The board of the ASX-listed lithium explorer – with tenements in Chile’s abundant lithium triangle including its flagship Maricunga project – has green-lighted the takeover by Codelco.
This is Codelco’s first lithium deal, as the miner – the world’s biggest copper producer – seeks to pivot to other commodities essential to the energy transition.
Codelco has offered Lithium Power shareholders 57¢ per security. NYT
The deal comes five months after Chile announced its new national lithium strategy which would pose a potential roadblock to Lithium Power’s plan to develop the battery-grade project – as reported by The Australian Financial Review’s Street Talk column in July.
The new policy reflects Chile’s desire to exert control over its reserves of lithium, used in the batteries that power electric vehicles and in energy storage, demand for which is expected to surge in the coming years.
The policy, drafted in April, suggests some licences handed out before 1979 – such as the one held by Lithium Power – may, at worst, not cover the mining of lithium or, at best, force a joint venture with a Chilean state agency. Carlos Claussen, a leading lawyer in Chile, earlier told Street Talk that while significant uncertainties remained about how the new rules were interpreted, the licences “would not enable them to exploit lithium”.
“The transaction provides certainty for LPI shareholders when compared to a stand-alone development scenario of the company’s Maricunga Lithium Power and in the context of an uncertain economic
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