China’s Tsingshan ‘has not given up’ on Chile lithium plans despite plant retreat

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SANTIAGO (Reuters) -Chinese metals group Tsingshan said on Friday it remains interested in opportunities to invest in Chile’s downstream lithium sector, following reports that it had scrapped plans for a lithium cathode plant in the Andean country.

Reuters reported this week that Tsingshan and Chinese automaker BYD were backing out of plans to build major lithium cathode plants in Chile, citing the country’s economic development agency and Tsingshan.

The retreat by the two huge Chinese companies marked a blow to Chile’s aim to develop more domestic processing of lithium, a key metal for electric vehicle batteries. Chile is the world’s No. 2 lithium producer.

In a statement on Friday, Tsingshan referred to its plans for a Chile cathode plant in the past tense, without saying they had been scrapped.

“Tsingshan Group values Chile’s investment environment and has not given up the opportunity to explore opportunities to contribute to Chile’s lithium value adding efforts,” it said.

In a social media post on Thursday, China’s embassy said Tsingshan and BYD never said they would halt investments in Chile, and that they would “continue dialogue” with Chilean authorities.

It also cited a close “friendship” between the two countries.

Tsingshan previously told Reuters it had withdrawn its cathode plant plans. BYD did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Chile’s investment promotion agency Corfo said in a statement on Wednesday that Tsingshan, through subsidiary Yongqing, had withdrawn its plans, and that BYD in January rejected an offer for land that it had previously selected for the project.

(Reporting by Daina Beth Solomon and Kylie Madry; Editing by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez, Anthony Esposito and Richard Chang)