Saudi Arabia’s Mining Minister, Bandar Alkhorayef, is set to visit Chile next month to negotiate a deal aimed at securing lithium to bolster the kingdom’s expanding electric vehicle (EV) sector, according to a news report.
Alkhorayef will meet with his Chilean counterpart in Santiago, as reported by Reuters, citing a statement from the Chilean government.
The discussions between the officials will focus on potential investments in the lithium industry.
Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), owns a 60 percent stake in Californian EV manufacturer Lucid, with investments totaling $5.4 billion since 2018.
In May 2023, Lucid announced a capital raise of $3 billion, which included a $1.8 billion investment from a PIF affiliate.
Lucid inaugurated its first car manufacturing facility in September at King Abdullah Economic City, with an initial phase capacity of 5,000 vehicles per year.
In March, Ceer, Saudi Arabia’s first EV brand, awarded a SAR5 billion ($1.3 billion) contract to build a manufacturing complex in King Abdullah Economic City.
Raw lithium, primarily used in battery manufacturing, is extracted through two main processes: mining metal-bearing rocks, which provided about 57 percent of global supply in 2023, and distilling brine for the remaining supply.
Lithium is one of the most abundant metals on Earth due to its presence in salt water, explains Martin Jackson, head of battery raw materials at metals and mining analyst CRU.
Two companies dominate the industry: Chile’s SQM and US-based Albemarle, each commanding about 20 percent of global supply in 2023.
