Chilean court rejects left-wing lawmaker's request for continuation of tender for 400000 tons of lithium ore contract

On Friday, Jan. 7, local time, a Chilean court rejected a request by members of Congress to prevent the Chilean government from accepting a vote on a lithium mining contract.

Chile announced in October last year that it would provide five quotas of 80, 000 tons to domestic and overseas companies, totaling 400000 tons of exploration and production contracts, and the winning bidder would be given seven years of exploration and development projects and 20 years of production time. The bid will end in mid-January, with the participation of Chilean mining and chemical companies (SQM), the world's two largest lithium giants, and (Albemarle), an American company.

However, the tender has caused a lot of opposition in Chile, and lawmakers from the centre-left opposition party PPD on Tuesday challenged an appeals court in the Chilean capital Santiago, demanding that the bidding process be stopped. On Wednesday, centrist Christian Democrats also submitted a bill to Chile's legislature seeking to prevent the current president, Sebasti á n Pi ñ era, from inviting bids for new mining contracts during his final three months in office.

However, the Santiago Court of Appeal ruled that it was too late to appeal because the tender was made public by the Chilean Ministry of Mines last October.

Congressman Ra ú l Soto, one of the sponsors of the appeal, had previously said that the outgoing Sebasti á n Pi ñ era government had unexpectedly auctioned a new lithium mine contract, putting the country's overall interests at risk.

Chile's current government has defended the bid, arguing that until 2016, Chile was the world's largest lithium producer, with a 37 per cent market share, but now it has fallen to 31 per cent, overtaken by Australia, and if it does not find ways to increase production, Chile's market share will fall further to 17 per cent by 2030.

, Juan Carlos Jobet is understood to have met with advisers to President-elect Gabriel Boric this week to try to reach an agreement on the tender.