Auqali Lithium
 | |
 Auqali Lithium headquarters in Ambaqwe | |
| Company type | Saukhinápolqač |
|---|---|
| TSX: AUQ QSX: AQL | |
| Industry | Lithium and mining |
| Founded | 1864 (Ambaqwe) (Auqali Mining Corporation) 2003 (Taisgol) (Auqali Lithium Holdings, S.A.) |
| Founder | Hector Cruz |
| Headquarters | Ambaqwe,  Auqali |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Karina Figueroa (chairwoman of the board) Taiyo Atakolat (Chief Executive) |
| Products |
|
| Revenue |  $26.121 billion (2022) |
| $9.924 billion (2022) | |
| $6.024 billion (2022) | |
Number of employees | 95,000 (2023) |
| Subsidiaries | MSO Taisgol Energy 19A Batteries Songun Bay Mining Naqili Lithium |
Auqali Lithium (Qabóri: Lîthide le Auqali), doing business as Auqali Lithium Holdings, S.A., is a Tierradorian listed mining and extraction company headquartered in Ambaqwe, Auqali, with services around the world. It is known for being one of the largest producers and distributors of the resource lithium. Alongside lithium, Auqali Lithium is also a producer and distributor of most copper, iron ore, nickel and platinum. It was founded in 1864 in the then-independent republic of Auqali by Hector Cruz, the Governor of Auqali at the time, to serve as a vassal to the First Tierradorian Republic. Following the annexation of the commonwealth into Tierrador, the company began operations around the other commonwealths of Tierrador. Despite its namesake being derived from the Auqali Region, Auqali Lithium's largest producer in the latest fiscal year was Las Rozas in northeastern Tierrador.
The company owns various pockets of land across Tierrador, where it is used for the various mining ventures of the company and its associates. Despite being named “Auqali Lithium” and being one of the largest producers of lithium in the world, Auqali Lithium is the producer of many of the world’s most valuable minerals and resources, such as diamonds, coppers, iron ore and platinum. It has primary listings on the Taisgol Stock Exchange and the Qabóri Stock Exchange, and is a constituent of the Q&Q 100 Index.
History
1864–1986
Governor Hector Cruz of the Auqali Republic founded the Auqali Mining Company in 1864 with close to ₽2.2 million raised in independent funding and donations, along with financial backing from VTBC and Banco Nacional, in the hopes of fixing the failing Auqali economy. Cruz, along with Victor O’Neal, an immigrant from Urcea, began purchasing land across Auqali and in neighboring Tierradorian commonwealths of Anbarsnia, Las Rozas and Aracadó, for use in Auqali Lithium’s mining ventures. In 1876, Auqali Mining struck gold in Eastern Auqali, making its presence well-known across Tierrador and surrounding Cronan nations. In 1880, Governor Hector Cruz passed away at 68 years old. His son, Benito Cruz-Morales, took control with goals of expanding the company’s influence beyond Auqali.
In 1910, following the annexation of Auqali back into Tierrador, Auqali Mining started expanding its influence across mainland Tierrador, opening offices in Porvaos and Telohakee, where it operated mines across those commonwealths. In 1926, Auqali Mining was briefly known as the Auqali-Songun Corporation, due to it merging with the Songun Mining Company. However following the bankruptcy of the Songun Mining Company due to the fallout of the Second Great War, Auqali Mining pulled out of the venture in 1934. That same year, Benito Cruz-Morales would retire as Auqali Mining's chairman, passing the position on to Satolo Kuni'itas. The 1942 Tierradorian Markets Crisis heavily impacted the company in a negative sense, as the economy at the time was based on the mineral extraction industry. Following the end of the Second Great War, Auqali Lithium began to expand its operations internationally. The establishment of the Qabóri-Audonian Employment Program allowed for the company to begin operations in various Audonian nations such as Umardwal and Tapakdore.
In 1945, Auqali Mining would begin extracting and producing vast quantities of lithium from pockets in the Wečas Mountains. Owing to the massive role lithium would portray for the company in that year and in following years, Kuni'itas changed the name from Auqali Mining to Auqali Lithium. Auqali Lithium began opening various lithium mines in both the Wečas Mountains and in the much larger and more extensive Qalhéq Mountains. Internationally, Auqali Lithium became a major investor in the newly-founded Audonia-Tierrador Corporation, which would eventually become Auqali Lithium's biggest competitor in the Audonian markets. Both companies would discover lithium pockets in Tapakdore, which began a race between the two companies to extract as much lithium as they could.
With the use of lithium in 1950s for nuclear fission and the upper-hand the company possessed in that market, Auqali Lithium's stock price skyrocketed, and the company played a key role in the development of Tierradorian nuclear weapons during the Tana'oska Program. In 1961, the company began extracting steel from its newly-acquired properties in Ceylonia, due to the Ceylon government outsourcing steel labor to make up for the losses incurred during the Ceylon Steel Crisis. Auqali Lithium would be ranked as the largest Tierradorian company by revenue from 1964 to 1979, and played a major role in the Walakee State's oligarchy throughout its existence, with Satolo Kuni'itas being a highly respected oligarch within the institution.
In 1981, Kuni'itas privatized Auqali Lithium, taking it off the Taisgol Stock Exchange. One year later, in 1982, Kuni'itas would retire, and would pass chairmanship on to José Cruz. Cruz would immediately make headlines by pledging to cut the company's carbon footprint by a significant margin.
1982-present
On May 7, 1984, Auqali Lithium would merge with MSO, buying out its various steel mines throughout the commonwealth of Moscakee. After the end of the Occidental Cold War and the subsequent end to the nuclear arms race of that time, the demand for lithium decreased, and the company raced to find other areas of the mining industry to avoid incurring massive losses. In 1990, Auqali Lithium acquired Kiravian diamond mining company XimanHíram UDK, and quickly brought back up its revenue margin by a significant amount throughout the 1990s. Auqali Lithium had also acquired Summit Petroleum's coal reserves in 1996, which was worth upwards of about $865 million. In 2003, Auqali Lithium merged with Tulikos Mining to form Auqali Lithium Holdings, S.A., and the company was re-listed on the Taisgol Stock Exchange after being a private company for over 20 years, with a secondary listing on the Qabór Stock Exchange.
In 2006, Auqali Lithium acquired stakes in the Snow copper project in Teschego, and had also acquired stakes in various iron ore projects in Porlos, through its Porlosi subsidiary Naqili Lithium. That same year, numerous holdings in Bulkh were seized by the government of that country, after Auqali Lithium was accused of not paying federal taxes on proceeds from the mines. Auqali Lithium pulled out all operations in Bulkh in 2008 after incurring record losses throughout its Audonian operations in the previous two years.
The commercialization of lithium-ion batteries brought upon a massive increase in demand for the mineral, and Auqali Lithium was the first company to take advantage of the increasing demand. Many unexploited lithium pockets in the Qalhéq Mountains were quickly developed and exploited to fit the growing demand, and Auqali Lithium recorded record profits in 2009, 2010, and 2012. Auqali Lithium quickly became the top lithium-ion battery producer for various consumer electronics companies such as Palmtree, Petalstone, Aegan, Nexus, and HD.
The rising popularity of lithium-ion batteries have increased its use in geopolitical competition, and subsequently, Auqali Lithium had propelled itself as one of the world's leading producers in renewable energy sources, giving Tierrador a massive advantage in the energy industry, due to its many lithium pockets scattered throughout the Qalhéq and Wečas mountain ranges. Auqali Lithium has cooperated with various automotive companies for the development of electric vehicles using lithium-ion batteries, and has also cooperated with the Burgoignesc North Levantine Trading Company for the development of autonomous container trucks, which are also powered by lithium-ion battery cells.
Operations
Auqali Lithium focuses on various natural resources, but with major emphasis on lithium and aluminum production. Through its 80% share in XimanHíram UDK, Auqali Lithium also possesses a sizable diamond mining industry, which atones for a large percentage of its yearly revenue. In 2025, Auqali Lithium had 177,000 permanent employees and 42,000 contract employees, and managed mining operations in 38 countries. Auqali Lithium mostly operates in Crona and Audonia, however it possesses operations in Levantia, Sarpedon, and Vallos.
Controversies
Auqali Lithium has consistently been at the center of many toxic waste controversies. In 1976, Auqali Lithium was accused of being responsible for lead poisoning after reports of heightening illnesses around the Al-Bukhwin mines in Umardwal reached Tierrador. Numerous studies have shown that over 150,000 people who lived around Al-Bukhwin were poisoned by lead, which eventually culminated in the closing of the Al-Bukhwin mines and a $6 billion fine from the government of Umardwal. Today, Al-Bukhwin is still contaminated, but many joint ventures by the governments of Umardwal, Tierrador, and Burgundie have begun cleanup operations for the area.
In 1997, the Heartland Development Board sued the company for $20 billion after it was discovered that the company had exploited a large lithium pocket in Lake Vernaza, outside of Vernaza, Telohakee, despite the lake being a imperially-recognized wildlife preserve. Auqali Lithium claimed that it had mined outside of the area designated as the reserve, however the map that they had used for evidence was actually a 1989 map of the similarly-shaped Lake Sestrino in Caphiria, which had been edited to replace the surrounding Caphirian cities with the cities surrounding Lake Vernaza. Auqali Lithium was fined $16 billion by the Imperial Government of Tierrador, and was banned from operating in and around Lake Vernaza until 2011.
Carbon footprint
| 2026 | 2027 | 2028 | 2029 | 2030 | 2031 | 2032 | 2033 | 2034 | 2035 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14.3 | 15.3 | 15.9 | 15.0 | 13.6 | 16.1 | 14.1 | 12.8 | 15.3 | 11.5 |
The company has committed to carbon neutrality in Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2050, and 50% reductions in the Scope 3 emissions relative to a 2030 baseline.