SANTIAGO, January 30th (Argus) - SQM announced on January 27th that it has officially completed the establishment of the lithium joint venture with Chile's state-owned copper company (Codelco) after all cooperation conditions were met. Meanwhile, China's Tianqi Lithium failed in its appeal against the transaction.
As a privately-owned mining company in Chile, SQM and the state-owned copper giant Codelco officially formed NovaAndino Litio through the merger of their respective subsidiaries. Starting from January 1, 2031, NovaAndino will take over the lithium assets of the Atacama salt lake from SQM and will fully own and operate these assets until the expiration of the concession in 2060. Before that, SQM and its shareholders will continue to operate the mining area independently until December 31, 2030.
In the joint venture structure, Codelco became the controlling party with 50% plus one "golden share", and SQM held the remaining shares.
The completion of this joint venture transaction was also supported by the Chilean Supreme Court. The court rejected Tianqi Lithium's challenge against the transaction. As the second-largest shareholder of SQM, Tianqi Lithium had been challenging the agreement at the legal level since the end of June 2025, arguing that the merger agreement should have been approved by all shareholders, not just the approval of the SQM board of directors.
The judgment of the Chilean Supreme Court is the final verdict. Tianqi Lithium cannot continue to appeal in Chile, but the company said it would not rule out escalating the dispute to the International Court.
