Santiago | Reuters — China’s Tianqi Lithium Corp. has bought a 23.77 per cent share in Chilean miner SQM from Canadian fertilizer giant Nutrien, the Chilean stock exchange said on Monday, for a total sale price of US$4.066 billion. The sale to Tianqi comes as Chinese companies increasingly scour the globe for the raw materials […] Read more

Chinese firm buys stake in miner SQM from Nutrien

PotashCorp Q3 profit disappoints ahead of merger
Reuters — Canada’s PotashCorp, set to merge with rival Agrium to withstand a fertilizer slump, reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly profit Thursday and narrowed its full-year forecast, pressuring its stock. Prices of crop nutrient potash have leveled off this year after hitting eight-year lows late last year due to low crop prices and excessive production capacity. […] Read more

Chinese group eyes indirect stake in Chile’s SQM
Santiago | Reuters — China’s CITIC CLSA Capital Markets will participate in the process to buy an indirect stake in Chilean crop nutrition and industrial chemical firm SQM, one of the world’s top lithium producers, the holding company selling the stake said Monday. Holding company Oro Blanco said in a filing with Chile’s securities regulator […] Read more

PotashCorp evaluating SQM, ICL stakes
New York | Reuters –– PotashCorp CEO Jochen Tilk said Thursday he views the company’s stakes in fertilizer companies Sinofert and Arab Potash Co. as “strategic,” but continues to review whether to keep its shares in ICL and SQM. Tilk, speaking at a BMO investor conference in New York, said if Saskatoon-based PotashCorp could not […] Read more

SQM stock plummets after directors from PotashCorp resign
Reuters — Shares in Chilean fertilizer group SQM plunged Wednesday after three board representatives from Saskatchewan’s PotashCorp resigned in protest at its handling of an illicit payments scandal that has shaken the Chilean establishment. SQM vice-chairman Wayne Brownlee, the chief financial officer at PotashCorp, and two directors stepped down late Tuesday after clashing with the […] Read more
Chile’s campaign finance scandal fells fertilizer firm’s CEO
Santiago | Reuters — Fertilizer company SQM has fired its CEO after it became embroiled in an election campaign financing scandal that has rocked the Chilean establishment, tainting business leaders and politicians with close links to the 1973-1990 dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. SQM, which has the rights to some of the world’s largest reserves of […] Read more

PotashCorp’s profit beats on higher potash sales
Reuters — PotashCorp, the world’s biggest fertilizer company by market capitalization, reported higher-than-expected quarterly profit on strong potash sales, but its 2015 outlook disappointed. Saskatoon-based PotashCorp sold 2.5 million tonnes of potash, the most ever in a fourth quarter and up 42 per cent year over year. Its average realized potash price was $284 per […] Read more