Lithium King's Abdication May Be Cheered by Carmakers
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The lithium industry is set to lose one of its key figures just as a nascent electric-car boom transforms the mineral from niche to mainstream status. That may be good news for Tesla Inc.
Julio Ponce, once the son-in-law of dictator Augusto Pinochet, has controlled Soc. Quimica & Minera de Chile SA since the early nineties, fending off larger shareholder Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. thanks to a series of holding companies and a pact with Japan’s Kowa Co. Once predominantly a crop-nutrient producer, SQM has become the world’s biggest exporter of lithium carbonate just as prices soar.