Nutrien
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Tianqi buys stake in lithium miner SQM from Nutrien for $4.1 billion
China’s Tianqi Lithium Corp has purchased a 23.77 percent share in Chilean lithium miner SQM from Canadian fertilizer giant Nutrien, the Chilean stock exchange said on Monday, for a total sale price of $4.066 billion.
The sale to Tianqi comes as Chinese companies increasingly scour the globe for the raw materials necessary to ramp up Chinese production of electric vehicles. Lithium is a key component in the batteries that power everything from cellphones to electric vehicles.
Tianqi, through Talison Lithium which it controls, is also in a joint venture with SQM’s top competitor, No. 1 lithium producer Albemarle Corp in Australia, that owns the world’s biggest lithium mine, Greenbushes.