International
Chile awards two multi-million dollar lithium contracts
AFP
Chile shunned two of the world’s biggest lithium producers when awarding extraction contracts worth a total of $121 million to a local firm and a Chinese company, the minerals ministry said Wednesday.
China’s BYD Chile SpA and Chile’s Servicios y Operaciones Mineras del Norte S.A. were awarded the right to extract 80,000 tons of lithium each, although the ministry did not say where.
American firm Albemarle, which produces 19 percent of the world’s lithium, and Chile’s SQM, which extracts 17 percent, were both unsuccessful in their tenders.
Chile is the world’s second largest producer of lithium after Australia, with 32 percent of the global market, according to the mining ministry.
The particularly low density metal is primarily used in lithium ion batteries for electric cars and mobile devices.
“The entry of both companies will increase the dynamism of the local lithium industry so that Chile can regain its position on the world stage,” said the mining ministry.
It said Chile was the world’s largest producer of the metal until 2016.
The ministry said the quotas awarded amount to 1.8 percent of Chile’s “known lithium reserves.”
Market and consumer data company Statista estimates that Chile is home to 57 percent of the world’s lithium reserves.
The International Energy Agency expects demand for lithium to increase 42 percent by 2040.
BYD bid $61 million for its lot, while Servicios y Operaciones Mineras del Norte bid $60 million.
The two companies have seven years to carry out studies and develop their projects, and then another 20 years to extract the metal.
The tender sparked controversy in Chile as it took place just three months before the end of conservative President Sebastian Pinera’s mandate.
Leftist president-elect Gabriel Boric’s team had asked the government to postpone the tenders and set up a “roundtable” to discuss various conditions to apply to the contracts.
Mining Minister Juan Carlos Jobet said the government would work with the successful companies to ensure that “a portion of the payments they must make be used to support local communities and to invest in research and development.”
Chile had offered five lots to tender but considered offers for the other three to be too low.
International
Chilean President promises to prioritize social rights and security
June 1 |
The President of Chile, Gabriel Boric, declared today that his government’s roadmap in the next stage will have social rights, public safety and sustainable development as priorities.
During his second Public Account, from the seat of the National Congress in Valparaiso, the President mentioned some achievements of his administration, such as the increase in the minimum wage, the reduction of the working day and the elimination of health payments.
“But we must not be confident, nor relax in the fight against poverty”, said Boric, and called to move towards a country where equality of opportunities is effective, wage equality between men and women is achieved, and universal health and pensions are improved.
The dignitary insisted on the urgency of advancing in Parliament the Pension Reform, which seven months ago was presented in that instance and the vote on the project has not yet begun.
He acknowledged that one of the great scourges of society is the so-called waiting list in hospitals, and reported that in the first year of his government, the time for surgery was reduced by 32.7 percent and the time for specialist consultations by 22 percent.
“This is a great advance, but it is not enough: half of the people still have to wait more than 330 days for surgery and more than 261 days to see a specialist,” he said.
Boric promised to reduce these times by 40 percent by the end of his term, for which additional resources are necessary, one more reason to insist on tax reform.
In his speech to the nation, the President admitted that he had to order his priorities in view of the degree of tensions presented by society, its fears and uncertainties, and the delay of the State in responding to them.
“We have made the fight against crime our first priority, allocating more resources for the police, creating the National Policy against Organized Crime and the Streets without Violence Plan, which is already making progress in reducing crime, dismantling gangs and seizing drugs and weapons,” he said.
He stated that the State of Chile has been affected by this social pandemic for several years.
“It is hard to say it, but in terms of resources, technology and recruitment, crime, crime, drug and arms technology and recruitment, delinquency, drug trafficking and organized crime have modernized much faster than the state did to fight them and protect the population. to fight them and protect the population,” he said.
During the balance, the president reported that his administration increased the budget for security and order by 4.4 percent this year, the first increase after five years of stagnation.
In environmental matters, he mentioned the conclusion of an agreement for a marine protection corridor along the Pacific.
He added that in the coming weeks the Oceans Treaty will be deposited at the United Nations headquarters in New York after 16 years of discussion, and Chile presented its candidacy to become the world capital for its protection.
International
Social leaders demand resignation of Peruvian Health Minister
June 1 |
Social leaders in the northern Peruvian city of Piura today demanded the resignation of the Minister of Health, Rosa Gutiérrez, for what they consider to be poor management of the growing number of dengue cases.
Gutierrez’s resignation was demanded at a sit-in in the center of Piura, capital of the region of the same name, which has suffered 40 deaths and 31,000 dengue infections and similar levels of dengue in the neighboring region of Chiclayo and in the southern region of Ica.
Previously, the parliamentarian Edward Malaga, in a letter, asked the minister to resign because she does not have the necessary professional profile for the position, as she is a nephrologist previously dedicated to administrative positions and lacks epidemiological preparation.
One of the demonstrators in the protest called by the Colectivo Regional por la Salud y la Vida accused the minister of inaction and negligence, because in a previous visit, when there were 20 deaths, she said that the outbreak was under control and in decline.
He added that Gutiérrez offended Piura by affirming that the population is to blame for the advance of dengue because they do not comply with the prohibition of having water tanks in their homes, where the Aedes Egypti mosquito, transmitter of the disease, reproduces on a large scale.
The minister is also criticized for claiming that funds have been transferred to the Regional Directorate of Piura to fight dengue, and therefore she is responsible for the situation.
The president of the Medical Federation of Piura (union of state service physicians), María Lupú, supported the protest and stated that the funds allocated are insufficient to hire more physicians and develop preventive actions.
In addition, she indicated that more doctors are needed, since the doctors dealing with dengue fever in Piura are insufficient and each one can attend up to 50 patients per day, which is detrimental to the quality of service.
The president of the Unified National Federation of Health Sector Workers, Wilder Farfán, also joined the demand for the resignation of the head of Health, due to her poor performance.
According to official figures updated to date, 119,533 cases of dengue fever have been registered in Peru since the beginning of the year, including confirmed (60,710) and probable (58,823) cases, 118 patients have died and there are other deaths under investigation.
There are cases in almost all regions and the Ministry of Health maintains that these are only controllable outbreaks, although the Peruvian Medical Federation affirms that it is an epidemic.
International
Bolivia and Argentina promote energy integration
June 1 |
The presidents of Bolivia and Argentina, Luis Arce and Alberto Fernández, respectively, lead today in the department of Tarija the inauguration of the 132 kV Juana Azurduy de Padilla international interconnection power line.
Fernandez arrived this Thursday at the Tarija airport of Yacuiba and went to the town of Yaguacua, where he held a meeting with his peer and host, and later both proceeded to inaugurate the electricity transmission line.
The energy supplier has a length of 120 kilometers (46.49 in Bolivia and 73.88 in Argentina) and connects the Yaguacua substation in Bolivia with the Tartagal substation in Argentina.)
This project will allow the transportation of electric energy from the Andean-Amazonian nation to the neighboring country with an estimated power of 120 megawatts (MW).
The work required an investment of 364 million Bolivianos (US$364 million), concluded in March 2018 in Bolivia and in May 2019 on the Argentine side.
“It is an honor and a joy to receive in Yacuiba, Tarija, our brother president, Alberto Fernández, to deliver a work of great importance for our peoples,” Arce wrote on his Twitter account.
According to the news agency Télam, for Argentina “the import of energy from Bolivia results in an improvement in the voltage levels in the northern area (…), especially at hours of high demand”.
This exporting operation should have started in October 2019, and the works were interrupted in 2020, during the de facto government of Jeanine Áñez.
After the rescue of democracy with the electoral triumph of Arce that same year, in 2021, Empresa Nacional de Electricidad (ENDE) through its subsidiary ENDE Transmisión Argentina S.A. (ETASA), resumed the construction of the section in Argentine territory.
The work was completed in October 2022, after which the line and generation testing stages were carried out.
On March 13 of this year, Bolivia began exporting, for the first time in bilateral history, 60 MW to Argentina with the possibility of reaching up to 120 MW.
Arce and Fernández are currently leading the inauguration ceremony in an evening attended by ministers of both nations, legislators, leaders of social organizations and neighbors of the Chaco region of Yaguacua.
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