Chile’s President Gabriel Boric hailed the formation of a new government-controlled lithium partnership that fuses assets of state-run Codelco with private miner SQM, as the leftist leader advances his push for greater public control over the battery metal. Chilean lithium miner SQM said on Wednesday it would partner with copper giant Codelco for the future development and production of the metal in the Atacama salt flat, in a tie-up set to kick off in 2025 and run through 2060. The deal gives Codelco majority control in line with the president’s plans announced in April to strengthen state control of lithium to ... (full story)