[Music] thank you welcome to co insights I'm Marilyn De Guzman with advancing News Network I'm speaking with Cristobal Garcia quick though bro CEO and managing director of lithium power international about lithium mining in Chile and the latest political developments in that country hello Crystal Ball how are you Marilyn nice to meet you I'm good nice to meet you so let's start a conversation with just an overview of the company could you tell our viewers about lithium power international


yeah great well listen power we are we're a lithium developer we have the assets both in in Australia and Western Australia in hard rock and also of course our Flagship project in in Chile at the Marika sold what and we would expect to become a the third lithium producer in Chile after more than 40 years you know with the two main and very well-known producer in crsqm and Albemarle um again like I said we have been developed developing this project in Chile for the last seven years so it's by far one of the most advanced


and real projects in South America today and we would expect to become a producer very soon right so with such a big presence in Chile so you know it's it's uh just up to talk about what's going on in Chile uh recently so there's like you know president Gabriel Warwick's plan to announcement to nationalize lithium and then the newly passed mining royalty bill you know could you talk about how these developments uh you know how you see them impacting your project in the American War I think it's important


clarified to think first this is really not a nationalization at all you know of the victim industry uh it's just a policy it doesn't change any uh any or it doesn't create any change on the legal studied of philippium in the country that is currently in force it doesn't give any rights or new rights or change any of you know the rights the companies the private companies Us in Chile so it actually what it really is it's a set of you know guidelines that we think it will be very positive for


the country because it it will finally you know set the basis uh for I'm sure some real you know willingness from the government you know to develop that need some industry in Chile which even though we are one of the main producers in in the world of of in the beefm industry we only had you know two producers in the country and those are the same ones that have been producing since 1980. so it doesn't make sense that having you know probably the biggest reserves in the world you know and with them and we


only have two producers and those have been the same one for the last four years so we really think this will you know be good news it have only all already being attracting a lot of interest from International companies and and I think Chewie will keep its kind of leading position in the industry with this uh with this actions that have been taken by the government no very important also from our point of view and and I mean for police in power it doesn't change as anything okay we're the owners of our asset that's not


something that will change with this policy as a public policy it will need to grow through the whole legislative process and that will take some time those will be different you know things so for living power it doesn't change anything we're ready to start our construction we're fully permitted and well by far not not only by far we are the only project today in Chile outside the attack where the two nine producers you know have been operating for so many years right and to put it into context I guess


what we're referring to is just I guess the president's announcement was just to for the government to become a partner in all these developments isn't it yeah that's those because uh also a great question that have been clarified you know during the last three or four weeks by by you know pressing boards ministers and there's actually or there will be actually three a different Alternatives in which the private sector will participate because this will be done you know with the


private sector you know the president said us the vehicles for the government to to start acting immediately the two companies mining companies State online and companies that existed into it which are enamian global what they expect you is within those salars where the state is the owner they will probably you know partner with a private company that wants to explore with them and start the development of some project that takes you know to develop a new living project can take between six to eight years no less on that so


it's it's a long process also on those areas where private companies you already have the mining concessions and are already working but at initial you know stages of of that exploration the state will probably you know partner then and and jointly develop that and the first option or under the first option probably the state will have control because they are the owners of the mining concessions under the second alternative it will be a negotiation between the two parties under the third


alternative only applies today to us which is in in those areas were a private company is the owner with that it's not going to change because that is not being challenged by this policy at all on the contrary it clearly states that it respects all the current contracts on on the the the private talk property but on those areas where not only the private companies the owner but also you have a private company that already have a development that is you know pretty Advanced that has all the permits so actually it's ready to start


the construction on those areas a direct you know a pyramid or a direct in authorization will be granted those private companies so at the end of the day what they are trying to do is really you know to promote you know the development of new political projects in the country which you know of course everyone would you know love to have a lot of details on how this is going to work but this is a work in progress but overall we think it's a very good yeah right and um so another development is the um


uh the recent election of the contest what would be the Constitutional Council against um reform their constitution like is that something that you're looking at how you're viewing this because uh the republican-led parties or or the yeah the the right-wing parties are sort of having that majority how friendly are they to the mining industry and what are your sort of how are you doing this in terms of How It's involved in your uh your projects there okay that's that's you know a very


important you know you should to comment now we had this first process you know to write a new constitution that started almost a year and a half ago and uh that I think the text that came out from that first attempt was very radical especially on you know some of the ideas of the role that the state should had you know within different Industries now in September last year that first text was rotally rejected with more than 62 percent of the boat so what they did was they they immediately after they agreed to this


new process you know learning from the first one they decreased in the amount of training people participating on this constitutional Council Etc and we voted again a couple of weeks ago and like he said you know a the opposite happened to what happened a year and a half ago now the right wing parties won and have will have full control of this uh constitutional Council what that means and at least from our point of view is that we will end with a very constructive and moderate you know document


that will in benefit the development of the economy that will protect the private property that will also make all these changes are necessary you know answering to people's demands that and and I really think that it will be a very representative text for what people really want today in the country and I'm really confident and as a company we are really confident that this will be something very positive the right wing parties are you know very supportive of this you know interaction between the


private sector on the stage for the state to have a more regulatory role in the economy and the you know to really attract new Investments to create more jobs which after you know the covet pandemic you know it's what every country needs it's for their economy to recover as soon as possible you know and to create more jobs for people to be able you know to continue working now we really think that if you saw what happened you know a year ago the the kind of uncertainties that the discussion of this first text created


everywhere in the world you know with news like I don't know Chile will nationalize all of the water rights or truly they will nationalize all the pension plans all the Healthcare System the mining industry which is crazy okay that that was never you know going to happen today we are exactly on the opposite side of of the road all those rights you know will be respected they understand that you know for economy to grow up for a country to really develop itself it needs to have a very close relationships or a very close


relationship between the private sector and the government is needed and so all those uncertainties now uh you know for us and I know my country very well you know for us uh we're transformed a couple of weeks ago after the results of these elections you know in in good years and I really think that a lot of Investments that were you know waiting for more certainties and for more security Etc like the one people was used to having Chile you know for many many years you know it happened so I'm pretty sure


that we will start seeing you know the results of that very soon uh in in our economy here and of course on the mining industry which have always been the engine of our economy it will be you know a very positive thing and it's interesting really because I was reading up on it and the history really is you know a great teacher because you know you've been down this road before right decades ago when you know it was nationalized and then uh when the previous dictator came came in and opened it up to me you know and


that really sparked the economy and the mining industry in Chile right if you see look I have been and I have seen my professional life eight different governments since we came back to democracy by the end of the 80s I have seen eight different administrations here in the country yeah like all from different political parties similar one to each other but different political party and the country had managed to continue growing for the last 40 years to continue being a very secure place you know for foreign investments to have


one of the main mining Industries in the world and to be probably one of the closest countries to become a developed country in the world today so I'm pretty sure that that rationality you know will now be back and that really you know things are going to be and or uncertainty you know will decrease a lot and we will start seeing very positive news you know coming out from Chile very soon right and speaking of positive news could you talk about more about the marikunga project and the the progress


that you've making you've been making enough properly you have to do that like I said at the beginning we are the only project today in Chile outside we started this development more than seven years ago this is a fully permitted project from a technical point of view subsequently reading and under one very important thing for us and and something of which we're very proud of is our ESD profile especially on the social side we have been working with indigenous communities that are within our


influence area in mariconga since the first day this development and we're very proud to be able to say that they are part of this project and they will be part of the benefits this project will generate throughout all its my life a very sick part of the revenues of this project those revenues will be administered managed by them directly and we that you know allowed us to it within our environmental permit that we received in in 2020 by the beginning of 2020 and it's important to remark that this was


to highlight that this was one of the probably two mining projects that have received its environmental approval within the last 10 years in Chile so the only Milestone we had ahead of us today is to finalize our financing our project financing for which we are working with you know can Accord as our financial advisor and we are you know evaluating a lot of alternative Equity dead Etc mixture of both it but we will expect to be able to close that process before year end and immediately I started to start the


construction of this project and again like I said at the beginning to become the first no not the first sorry the third lithium producer in Chile after 40 years it's just you know quite an achievement yeah that's very interesting and um so once you finalize the financing do you have some timeline timelines on when you see your construction beginning um and you know production to begin yeah this it will take us around two years of construction so we expect to be out in the market with our first


commercial production by the end of 2025 probably and this is only the first stage orange future expansion which it will be probably developed also with you know through this public private alliances with one of the government vehicles we expect to really increase significantly you know our our production but again it's it it will Mark a a very important event for the government for the country and also of course for us as this will be the project that will show that Chile is back but surely that you


can develop anything projects in Chile and in it will help for the country to keep this you know position in the in the lithium industry worldwide yeah that certainly will be a historical moment once you begin production and really will uh I think uh you know Precision Chile in sort of the move towards electrification because of you know the critical minerals and the battery sector that well it'll serve and hopefully not only to you know produce a review hopefully in the medium term you know to


be also able to produce you know value-added materials battery material probably not the batteries itself but the battery material well it's it's one of our objectives to be able you know to integrate uh uh our Upstream on the on the value chain of technical industry are you looking at our fake agreements as well or is that something already that's in the pipeline yeah it's part of of our project financing goal I'm sure we'll hear more about that in the coming months thank you for sharing your insights just


so well Marilyn thank you for the time and thank you for this interview thank you for watching join us again next time for another engaging conversation and CEO insights