Company: SQM
Filing Date: 2025-04-24
Form Type: 20-F
Source: 0000909037-25-000020
Chunk: 75

Company: CHEMICAL & MINING CO OF CHILE INC
Filing Date: 2025-04-24
Form: 20-F
Item: Item 4
Chunk 75
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 is transferred to the leaching and impurity removal area and leached with a process liquor. The slurry is then neutralized and filtered. The filtrate is pumped into the purification area where it is passed through a filter to remove fine entrained particles and later enters the solution causticization area where caustic soda (NaOH) is added to convert the lithium sulfate to lithium hydroxide (LiOH) plus sodium sulfate (Na2SO4). Lithium hydroxide is then crystallized, dried and finally packaged for shipment and subsequent commercialization. The production capacity of the lithium hydroxide plant is designed to take the whole concentrate production from Mt. Holland and transform it into 50,000 metric tons of lithium hydroxide per year upon completion of its construction.
Future production will depend on the actual volumes and quality of the spodumene concentrate shipped by the concentrator operation, the refinery plant performance and prevailing market conditions. 
Raw Materials
The main raw material that we require in the production of nitrate and iodine is caliche ore, which is obtained from our surface mines. The main raw material in the production of potassium chloride, lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide and potassium sulfate is the brine extracted from our operations at the Salar de Atacama.
Other important raw materials are sodium carbonate (used for lithium carbonate production), sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, kerosene, sulphur, anti-caking and anti-dust agents, calcium oxide, potassium carbonate, ammonium nitrate (used for the preparation of explosives in the mining operations), woven bags for packaging our final products, electricity acquired from electric utilities companies, and liquefied natural gas and fuel oil for heat generation. Our raw material costs (excluding caliche ore and salar brines and including energy) represented approximately 44% of our cost of sales in 2024.
Since 2017, we have been connected to the central grid, which supplies electricity to the majority of cities and industries in Chile. We have several electricity supply agreements signed with major producers in Chile, which are within the contract terms. Our electricity needs are primarily covered by Power Purchase Agreements that we entered into with Empresa Eléctrica Cochrane SpA (an AES affiliate) on December 31, 2012.
For our supply of liquefied natural gas, we maintain a five-year contract with Engie, which was executed in 2019 and some annual contracts to supply possible increases in demand.