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.

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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.

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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.

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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

Iran Reports 201 Dead, 747 Injured After U.S. and Israeli Strikes

The Iranian Red Crescent Society reported Sunday night (local time) that at least 201 people were killed and 747 injured following attacks carried out by Israel and the United States against the Islamic Republic.

A spokesperson for the humanitarian organization said more than 220 rescue teams have been deployed across affected areas and that relief operations are continuing without interruption. The official highlighted the difficulty of treating the large number of wounded and the urgent need for additional resources in impacted provinces.

Out of Iran’s 31 provinces, 24 have reported damage, according to a statement carried by the Isna news agency. This marks the first overall casualty toll released by Iranian state-affiliated media since the launch of the offensive.

Among the dead are 85 schoolgirls from a school in the southern city of Minab, according to the country’s judiciary. “The number of martyrs at the Minab girls’ school has risen to 85,” the local prosecutor’s office said, as quoted by the judiciary’s website, Mizan Online.

Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian described the attack as a “savagery” that “constitutes a new black page in the record of countless crimes committed by the aggressors.”

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Meanwhile, the international community continues to monitor the situation closely amid concerns about possible further reprisals and the broader impact on Middle East stability, energy markets, and global security.

AFP noted that it was unable to independently verify the casualty figures or the circumstances surrounding the events.

International

Pope Leo XIV Urges End to ‘Spiral of Violence’ in Middle East

Pope Leo XIV on Sunday called for an end to the “spiral of violence” in the Middle East, following military strikes by the United States and Israel against Iran and subsequent retaliatory bombardments in the region.

“Faced with the possibility of a tragedy of enormous proportions, I urge the parties involved to assume their moral responsibility and stop the spiral of violence before it becomes an irreparable abyss,” the pontiff told the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican.

Speaking during the Angelus prayer, the U.S.-born pope said stability and peace cannot be achieved through threats or weapons. “Stability and peace are not built with reciprocal threats or with arms that sow destruction, suffering and death, but only through reasonable, sincere and responsible dialogue,” he declared.

The leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics also called for diplomacy to “regain its role” amid escalating tensions.

In addition, the pope urged Afghanistan and Pakistan to urgently resume dialogue after several days of clashes between the two countries.

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International

Security Council to Hold Emergency Meeting on Middle East Crisis

UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Saturday condemned the “military escalation in the Middle East” following attacks by the United States and Israel against Iran and Tehran’s retaliatory strikes, just hours before an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council.

“I call for the immediate cessation of hostilities and de-escalation,” Guterres said in a statement.

The Security Council is scheduled to meet on Saturday at 21:00 GMT (4:00 p.m. in New York) to address “the situation in the Middle East,” the United Nations announced.

The meeting, during which Guterres will deliver remarks, was convened at the request of France, Bahrain, Colombia, Russia and China, according to a diplomatic source.