SANTIAGO, June 5 (Reuters) - Chile's financial regulator

on Wednesday said it is aiming to respond as quickly as possible

to a complaint from China's Tianqi Lithium over a

planned lithium partnership between miner SQM and

Chilean state miner Codelco.

Tianqi, which holds about a fifth of shares in SQM, has

argued to the regulator that a shareholders' vote is needed to

approve the agreement. The deal would give Codelco a majority

stake of SQM's lithium operations in Chile's Atacama salt flat.

SQM and Codelco announced the final terms last week but

said certain conditions still needed to be met, including a

rejection of Tianqi's proposal by Chile's Financial Market

Commission (CMF).

SQM has maintained that only a board vote is required,

citing an earlier CMF determination.

Asked about the matter in a Senate hearing, the

regulator's president Solange Bernstein said the commission was

aiming to work quickly. It received Tianqi's appeal in May, and

requested a response from SQM by Monday.

"We are going to take a while to be able to resolve it, but

we're going to do it as quickly as possible," she said.

"We have to analyze the details of the agreement, as

well as SQM's response."

Tianqi said in a

filing

on Sunday with the Shenzhen Stock Exchange it may consider

further action to protect its interests.