Speedier, Greener Lithium May Be Nine Years Away, Codelco Says

Codelco, the copper giant that’s about to become a major lithium player, delivered some cautious guidance on the timing of a cleaner, faster way to extract the battery metal in northern Chile.

A week after signing contracts to take a majority stake in SQM’s sprawling brine operations on the Atacama salt flat, Codelco indicated that direct lithium extraction, or DLE, probably wouldn’t be introduced there for another nine years — and only as a complement to the current evaporation method.