Lithium Power International Ltd (fka LTHHF)

[Dr_Vonschellan]

Finally_figured out_why Nicolás_Grau is_always sticking_his nose_in lithium
business. Well I'll be darn, it turns out that Minister of Economy Nicolás Grau does indeed have a vested interest in what happens with the upcoming NLP & NLC.

I was reading the last Overview of Lithium in Latin America Report from CELAG.org (Centro Estratégico Latinoamericano de Geopolítica aka Strategic Center Latin American of geopolitics) and I discovered on Page 10 Section Chile bullet point 3 paragraph 2 that CORFO (Corporación de Fomento de la Producción) is actually a public service under the Ministry of Economy... so it only follows that Nicky wants to keep "his" personal pet golden goose intact and safe-from-any-gutting and most importantly continuing to lay those fat juicy tasty golden eggs for his ministry and not some other ministry like the Ministry of Mining or the Ministry of Energy like the one Juan Carlos Jobet used to run under Pinera.

The Doctor
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Page 10 follows:
Chile
• Geographical location: it is located in the Salar de Atacama.
• State Regulation: Since 1979, lithium has been a mineral of "national interest" (Decree Law 2,886, which also establishes the application of the General Regime of the Mining Code). In turn, there are several specific sectorial norms related to lithium: the 1975 Nuclear Terms Regulation,
which establishes lithium as a mineral of "nuclear interest", and the Chilean Nuclear Energy Commission (CChEN), created in 1965 (Law 16,319), deals with problems related to the production, acquisition, transfer, transport and peaceful use of lithium. In 1976, Law 1,557, establishes that CChEN is the only one with stockpiling faculties and it is empowered to expropriate in its favor materials of nuclear interest. All this without forgetting that already in 1939 (Law 6,334) the Production Development Corporation (CORFO) was created, a government agency that manages and negotiates with the lithium concession companies.

• State Structure:
Ministry of Energy.
The Chilean Nuclear Energy Commission (CCHEN) was created in 1965, with U.S. cooperation.

Corporación de Fomento de la Producción (CORFO), which is a decentralized public service of the Ministry of Economy, created in 1940. Its mission is to develop industries in the State. It was a shareholder in the lithium exploitation processes on behalf of the State.

• Dominion: According to the Constitution, the State has absolute, exclusive, inalienable and imprescriptible dominion over all mines, and it is up to the law to determine which substances may be the object of exploration or exploitation concessions. Law No. 18,097, Constitutional Organic Law on Mining Concessions, in its Article 3, paragraph 4, as well as the Mining Code, in its Article 7, expressly provide that lithium is not subject to mining concessions for exploration or exploitation. Consequently, according to the applicable regulations, the exploration, exploitation and benefit of deposits containing lithium will be carried out by the State, either directly or by means of special operating contracts (CEOLs), under the conditions and in compliance with the requirements established for each specific case by the President of the Republic through a supreme decree.

The private company Sociedad Minera y Química de Chile Soquimich (SQM) has had an oligopolistic (definiton = a state of limited competition in which a market is shared by a small number of producers or sellers) position of lithium carbonate production since 1995. In 2018, the tenders were renegotiated giving the State greater oversight powers.

In October 2021, the outgoing Chilean government, as part of its last actions, put up for auction the award of five new special lithium operating contracts (CEOLs) to explore and produce up to 400,000 tons of lithium. These contracts will have a 7-year renewable term, 2 more years for exploration and 20 years for production.

• Tax Policy and Incentives: The mining tax policy is determined in accordance with the annual sales of each company, according to marketing bracket: sales of less than 12,000 tons will be tax-free; from the 12,000 tons and 15,000 tons, the effective rate will be between 0% to 1.93%; and commercialization over 50,000 tons will have an effective rate between 5% to 14%. In addition to the Corporate Income Tax 27%; Profit Retention Tax from 35% to 44.45%, Profit Retention Tax from 4% to 35%, Import Duties 10% and a royalty of 30%.

In 2005, Law 20,026 established tax invariability for 12 years for mining companies.

It is worth highlighting the contributions to Research and Development.
For example, the company Albemarle annually allocates between 6 and 12.4 million dollars; and the company SQM annually allocates between 10.7 and 18.9 million dollars.Finally, the State can adhere to "value added" clauses, which implies preferential lithium prices for the State (for specific periods) in order to attract industries that add value and production to lithium.

Finally, the State can adhere to "value added" clauses, which implies preferential lithium prices for the State (for specific periods) in order to attract industries that add value and production to lithium.