Lithium giant SQM boosts net income 937% in Q3
Chilean mining company Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile (SQM), a major lithium producer, has reported net income of US$1,099.9 million in Q3 2022, an increase of 937% compared to a net income of US$106.1 million in Q3 2021.
The company said that its earnings reached record highs as a result of the positive market conditions and the investments and risks SQM undertook over the past years, adding that revenues from the company’s lithium business line totaled US$2,334.9 million in Q3 2022, an increase of 1,161% compared to US$185.2 million in Q3 2021, primarily due to a significant increase in sales volumes and lithium prices.
Importantly, SQM said it believes global lithium demand will grow by over 40% this year compared to last year.
Previously, the company reported that in light of market demand expectations, SQM is increasing its capacity and expects that sales volumes of lithium and derivatives in 2022 will reach at least 145,000 metric tonnes.
SQM is a major lithium producer with a 19% market share, as well as other divisions servicing nutrition and industrial chemicals.
In the Atacama Desert, located between Chile’s first and second regions, SQM has exclusive access to the world’s best and largest reserves of caliche ore and brines. The company possesses the most extensive reserves of iodine and nitrate, as well as the highest concentrations of lithium and potassium on record.
In addition, in 2017 the company began diversifying geographically by acquiring new resources to extract lithium from spodumene in Western Australia (in partnership with Kidman Resources).
