Rosatom offered to Chile’s government a technology that can increase lithium production, a key input for electric vehicle batteries.
At meetings last November, representatives of Uranium One Group, a subsidiary of Rosatom, informed officials at two Chilean entities that they could sustainability increase the extraction rates of the ultra-light brine battery metal, improve its quality and obtain higher revenues. This technology would use residual brine after processing and eliminating the large water-consuming solar evaporation pools that Chile’s main miners currently use to produce lithium.
The representatives of Rosatom presented their plan to the officials of CORFO, the development agency of Chile and the Ministry of Mining, each of which helps to supervise the lithium industry in Chile.
If Russian technology meets the requirements and expectations of CCHEN (Chilean Nuclear Agency), Uranium One Group will introduce its technology that can increase lithium production for the projects of SQM, Albemarle, MS Blanco and other stakeholders.
SQM and Albemarle, which exploit the lithium of the Salar de Atacama in northern Chile, are the two main world producers of the mineral. Both have recently won approvals to increase their production quotas without using more brine or saltwater to produce it.
The company also offered other options to Chilean officials, including the construction of a plant to convert lithium chloride to lithium hydroxide battery grade, which is not currently produced in Chile but is increasingly coveted by manufacturers of lithium chloride. automobiles
Chile is the world’s leading producer of copper and the second largest producer of lithium, both metals critical to the industry. Automobile manufacturers, governments, miners and other stakeholders have increasingly pressured officials here in their efforts to seek access to Chile’s coveted resources. The Chilean government considers lithium a “strategic mineral”, so it leases rights to exploit it and limits its production and use in nuclear applications.
