Chile’s SQM goes deep in the red with $806m loss during first three quarters of 2024

One of WA’s key lithium players has been bleeding more than $20 million a week since the start of this year but is pushing through the pain to finish a refinery in Kwinana. SQM tabled a bleak set of numbers this week, revealing a $US524.5m ($806m) net loss for the nine months up to September 30. The losses accelerated for the Chilean giant during the September quarter and were largely driven by the lithium price collapse. SQM and Wesfarmers have an evenly-owned $2.6 billion partnership — Covalent Lithium — which runs the Mt Holland mine in the Goldfields and is building a lithium hydroxide refinery at Kwinana. Mt Holland produced first spodumene concentrate late last year and is expected to deliver between 220,000 tonnes and 260,000t for 2024. SQM is hoping that range gets boosted to 320,000t and 380,000t for 2025. The Mt Holland spodumene will be fed into the value-adding Kwinana refinery that SQM’s chief executive Ricardo Ramos said remains on track to be opened by the middle of next year. The two other lithium hydroxide refineries in WA, including one in Kwinana, have so far encountered significant operational issues. Mr Ramos remains optimistic about the long-term fundamentals of the battery mineral and SQM’s operations. “We believe current market prices are far from equilibrium given the fact that demand keeps on growing at a strong pace, while current prices are significantly below the incentive price required for projects announced by different players in the market,” he told investors this week. “Our more than 30-year track record in the lithium industry has proved that we have a long-term view in this business, and therefore, we strongly believe in the lithium market and its fundamentals which are highly related to the clean energy transition that we are living. “SQM is in a strong competitive position and well-prepared to continue developing our projects in Chile and abroad to harvest the benefits of this transition.” SQM joined forces with Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting in May, during the twilight of the WA lithium deals frenzy, to buy out Azure Minerals for $1.7 billion. The duo are currently developing Azure’s Andover lithium and nickel-copper-cobalt project near Roebourne in the west Pilbara. SQM spent about $520.8m on its 50 per cent share of the development for the 2024 financial year. Lithium comprises the core part of SQM’s portfolio but it also produces fertilizers and iodine, which both have agricultural uses.