Good story here https://www.acbr.com.au/tianqi-nears-us43bn-deal-buy-stake-chiles-sqm
Including
“Chengdu-based Tianqi, which is building the world's biggest lithium processor in Western Australia, is looking to sign a deal to acquire the stake in SQM from Canadian fertilizer company Nutrien, the people said.
“Nutrien, formed by the merger of Agrium and Potash Corp of Saskatchewan, must sell its stake in SQM by next March as part of a commitment to regulators approving the deal. Nutrien owns about 30 percent of SQM, which also has significant fertilizer production.....
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“Based on SQM's market value of $US14.8 billion at Monday's close, Tianqi would pay a roughly 22 percent premium for the shares in the world's lowest-cost producer of lithium.”
Back to Reuters.... and the past ...and. ...- the future?
It just seems logical to me that Kwinana will indeed become a ‘lithium valley’ that the batteries will be manufactured here as well ( leaving all the waste products in Australia in a neat reversal of historic precedent ) and Tianqi will live happily ever after as it cements supply where and as it wishes over the next several decades .
Only glitch for us is that ‘silicon valkey’ seems to be an exciting and relatively clean and even romantic place whereas ‘lithium valley’ maay end up just another foreign-investment-serving Kwinana ‘smog hollow”
Cheers
