MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Lithium prices are set to remain high through 2022 and the first months of 2023, a top executive for Chilean miner SQM said on Thursday during a call to discuss its third-quarter results.
The firm also announced that it will start operations in its new plant in China during the second quarter of 2023, which is set to produce 20,000 metric tonnes of lithium hydroxide through the year.
The company said in September that the facility will also produce 30,000 metric tonnes of lithium carbonate in 2023.
Local media have reported that the total investment in the plant amounts to $140 million.
SQM, the world’s second largest lithium producer, posted on Wednesday a ten-fold jump in third-quarter net profit, boosted by skyrocketing prices and record high sales of the metal.
Revenues for lithium and derivatives increased 1,161% from the year-earlier period.
The mining giant has set its capex for 2022-2024 at about $3 billion, with $1.3 billion being assigned to lithium expansion in Chile.
(Editing by Bernadette Baum)
