Why Chile is the King of the Lithium Triangle

PALM BEACH, Florida, June 12, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Marketnewsupdates.com Market Commentary

Three South American countries are responsible for the majority of the world's lithium, whose demand is projected to double by 2025. With each country striving for the perfect winning formula between exploiting, sourcing, and exporting, the battle for supremacy in the lithium triangle is more dramatic than ever. But, recent developments in one region might finally have investors ready to cast in their votes for a new king. Companies such as Lithium Chile (TSX-V: LITH) (OTC: LTMCF), Nemaska Lithium Inc. (TSX: NMX) (OTC: NMKEF), Global X Lithium (NYSE: LIT), FMC Corp. (NYSE: FMC) and Millennial Lithium Corp. (TSX-V: ML) (OTC: MLNLF) are poised to take advantage of the most intense mining industry-race of 2018.

Location, Location, Location 

When it comes to generating profits, it is imperative that junior mining firms know where they should go to get the most lithium for their money. In terms of sheer lithium output, it is a head-to-head battle between Argentina and Chile, and things are heating up.

Both Chile and Argentina are environmentally ideal for mining. They both contain an abundance of salars - or salt-flats - in which lithium can be found. Sensing the potential, firms are quickly purchasing huge masses of land in the two countries. Yet Chile is pushing ahead in terms of lithium production, and miners are noticing.

Lithium Chile (TSX-V:LITH) (OTCQB:LTMCF) is one little-known firm in particular which has yet to garner much attention despite the vast land package possession. In fact, it is second only to huge mining firms Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile and Albemarle in terms of land acquisition.

Yet Lithium Chile share prices remain low trading at under a dollar per share for most of 2018. Soon enough though, this could be set to change as the company now owns 140,100 hectares of property over thirteen salars. The property includes 56 square kilometers of the Atacama Salar, the highest grade salar in the world with the lowest cost of production.

There's good reason to acquire all this land in Chile; According to Investing News, Chile produced 14,100 metric tonnes (MT) of lithium in 2017, second only to Australia which produced 18,700 MT. Considering Australia has more than ten times the landmass of Chile, this points to Chile's exceptional lithium density. Argentina, meanwhile, produced 5,500 MT in the same year, which actually marked a decrease of 300 MT.