I’m not so sure it was 6 or 5, whatever, something close to that. And a significant part of the meetings at the beginning and – we have had so far have been focused on explaining in detail our lithium businesses. The technology we have developed, the production process, the different initiatives we’re working on, it is important to remember that in the – we have the largest lithium production side in the world in the Salar de Atacama, along with the largest integrated lithium refinery capacity in the world located near the city of [indiscernible]. It’s a big, big business. It’s complicated, it’s complex. It’s great. It’s beautiful. It’s the best one in the world, but of course, takes a lot of time to explain to a high professional group of people from CODELCO, all the big – all the main details of our operation.
They have to understand that. On top of this, we have spent a significant amount of time sharing visions over the Salar Futuro project. That was your question, of course, discussing the different alternatives we have in order to develop these Salar for the future. The importance in our opinion, and we have an agreement with CODELCO about that, that the successful execution of this project has over the sustainability of the operations in the Salar de Atacama. We both agreed that having a sustainable operation in the long-term is the most important target we face in the Salar de Atacama development. Investment required are significant. We reviewed the investment, all the technologies we are developing to achieve the goal of aiming to reach what we expect to be a hydric neutrality in the Salar de Atacama Basin.
Keep in mind that we, as SQM been working probably 2.5 years, maybe close to 3 years. in what we call the Salar Futuro project. We have been working very hard with new technology, new process, new alternatives, and we have been working very hard with CODELCO now trying to explain to them, trying to share with them all the advance of SQM in this project is very, very important to do it during this process. At the same time, it is important also to remember that whatever potential agreement, if we have an agreement in this negotiation, has to be for the benefit of Chile, for the benefit of the Antofagasta region, the local communities, CODELCO and of course, SQM and clearly, an agreement must be based on a shared vision of the challenges and opportunities this operation has for all stakeholders.
Please keep rest assured that we will inform the market on a timely manner through our own channels of communication of any significant development in this negotiation. Thank you.
Joel Jackson: Thank you, Ricardo.
Operator: The next question comes from Lucas Ferreira with JPMorgan. Please go ahead.
Lucas Ferreira: Hello, everyone. I have two questions. The first one on your lithium production for next year, so, what allowed you guys to anticipate the ramp-up to 210,000 tons a challenge at the Carmon plant level that was overcome? And then you made some comments about the cost. So can you also give us a view of how your costs per ton should evolve once these capacities ramp up? So will you be diluting more fixed costs with the production at 210,000 tons. So could we expect good performance or even a reduction in the cost per ton? And if you can comment about soda ash contracts for next year, so how to think about your cost per ton in 2024? That’s the first question. And the second question, I don’t know how much you’re also going to be able to comment about Azure, but the tender to announce a tender to the Azure shares?
What’s your expectations in terms of timing of that to be fully approved? And then what are you guys planning to achieve there in terms of production in the future, size of production, timing for this production, if you can share with us some initial expectations about timing and size of lithium production in LCE terms? Thank you.
Carlos Diaz: Hello, Lucas, this is Carlo Diaz. Thank you for your question. Regarding to the production of lithium, as we mentioned in the press release, sorry, we already reached a total capacity of 200,000 metric ton during the month of October, and this is because we have been working so far in to the bottlenecks all the processes and so on. And at the same time, we have been working hardly in increasing our quality and reducing our carbon and volume footprint. And for the beginning of next year, we expect to reach 210,000 tons. For the others, I have to mention that we have been working hard to produce lithium sulfate in Salar de Atacama that later on is go to China to the conversion. So that gives you an additional capacity in total, all this product coming from the Salar de Atacama.
Part of those – the main part of those is converted in our Antofagasta plant near to Antofagasta – sorry, and the other part, the lithium sulfide converted in China. That is the plan that we have for the lithium. Regarding cost…
Gerardo Illanes: Regarding – well. Hi, Luca, this is Gerardo. Regarding Azure, unfortunately, given the nature of the transaction and the jurisdiction in which this transaction is happening, at this moment, we cannot share more details on what was informed through a press release a few weeks ago. When we have more information that we can share, let’s assure that you’ll get it along with the rest of the market.
Lucas Ferreira: Super clear. Just maybe a quick follow-up on the cost. If it’s fair to assume the cost declining or growing less in inflation next year because of the cost dilution?
