Company: SQM
Filing Date: 2025-04-24
Form Type: 20-F
Source: 0000909037-25-000020
Chunk: 44

Company: CHEMICAL & MINING CO OF CHILE INC
Filing Date: 2025-04-24
Form: 20-F
Item: Item 4
Chunk 44
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 iodine production to reach approximately four thousand metric tons in the next few years, and approximately US$200 million for the SQM Lithium International Division, which includes the completion of the construction of the lithium hydroxide refining plant in Kwinana, Australia, and exploration-related investments.
We expect our capital expenditure for the 2025-2027 period to be in the range of US$3.1 to US$3.8 billion, including maintenance. This investment plan is preliminary and subject to change depending on internal and external factors (please see Risk factors- Risks related to our business- "We have an investment plan that is subject to significant risks and uncertainties" )
4.B.Business Overview
The Company
We believe that we are the world’s largest producer of potassium nitrate and iodine and one of the world’s largest lithium producers. We also produce specialty plant nutrients, iodine derivatives, lithium derivatives, potassium chloride, potassium sulfate and certain industrial chemicals (including industrial nitrates and solar salts). Our products are sold in over 100 countries through our worldwide distribution network, with 96% of our sales in 2024 derived from countries outside Chile.
Our products are mainly derived from mineral deposits found in northern Chile. We mine and process caliche ore and brine deposits. The caliche ore in northern Chile contains the only known nitrate and iodine deposits in the world and is the world’s largest commercially exploited source of natural nitrates. The brine deposits of the Salar de Atacama, a salt-encrusted depression in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, contain high concentrations of lithium and potassium as well as significant concentrations of sulfate and boron.
From our caliche ore deposits, we produce a wide range of nitrate-based products used for specialty plant nutrients and industrial applications, as well as iodine and iodine derivatives. At the Salar de Atacama, we extract brines rich in potassium, lithium, sulfate and boron in order to produce potassium chloride, potassium sulfate, lithium solutions and 
bischofite (magnesium chloride). We produce lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide at our plant near the city of Antofagasta, Chile, from the solutions brought from the Salar de Atacama. We market all of these products through an established worldwide distribution network.
Our products are divided into six categories: specialty plant nutrients; iodine and its derivatives; lithium and its derivatives; potassium chloride and potassium sulfate; industrial chemicals and other commodity