SYDNEY — Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto will invest $900 million in a joint venture with Chilean state-owned Codelco, expanding its lithium interests despite a protracted slump in prices for the key battery metal.
Rio said on Tuesday that the brine project in Salar de Maricunga, in Chile’s lithium-rich Atacama Desert salt flats, is in line with its broader strategy to be a leading supplier of materials for the clean energy transition.
