The New Chilean Lithium X-Ray: Its Weight in the Global Market and Its Dependence on China

The management of studies by the Undersecretary of International Economic Relations (Subrei) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs worked on a new lithium x-ray. It is the third report on the subject -one every year - and it analyzes the main trends and changes in an industry that has gained weight for the Chilean economy.In 2024, Chilean lithium exports amounted to US$ 2.895 million and represented 3% of total shipments: one year earlier they had …

The plant used the fourth generation ion exchange technology (IX) developed by Lilac, reaching a lithium recovery rate of 91% from salar brine with a concentration of 300 mg/L lithium and a impurity rejection rate of 99.4%. In this demonstration plant, a lithium extraction module built with components 100% available on the market was used, replicating the design of a commercial plant on a scale approximately one third of the size. This achieveme…