Chile: Atacameño Peoples council questions Codelco-SQM alliance to exploit lithium

The Council of Atacameños Peoples (CPA) in Chiliwhich brings together 18 communities from the Atacama Indigenous Development Area, in the Antofagasta Region, called this Thursday to “not repeat the mistakes of the past and subject any agreement to the highest international standards regarding indigenous participation and consultation” by questioning the alliance between the state giant Codelco and SQM announced to exploit lithium in the northern part of the country until 2060.

“On this occasion, the history of finding out in the press about increases in production and sales quotas is repeated, in addition to extending until the year 2060 the extraction of water in a highly fragile and sensitive system such as the aquifer basin of the Atacama Salt Flats. With this, extending the extraction life of the Salar Futuro project, a project not evaluated environmentally or socially”says the group’s statement.

He adds that heor “carried out by SQM and Codelco represents not only a breach of the tripartite table and dialogue agreement, but is also a sign of the empty words on the part of the State of Chili in its real commitment to participatory and dialogue processes.”

From there, the CPA called for “maintain a transparent dialogue with citizens and above all in good faith, due to the relevance it has for the country and the Atacameño people.”

Chile is the world’s second largest producer of lithium – essential for electromobility – behind Australia, but Argentina is close behind and could overtake it in the coming years.

In 2022, Chile exported US$ 6,877 million of lithium carbonate, which represents an increase in 777% with respect to 2021, according to the Central Bank.

There are only two companies that exploit lithium in Chile and they do so in the Salar de Atacama, which concentrates the 90% of the country’s reserves: the American Albemarle and the Chilean Sociedad Química y Minera (SQM), controlled by the Chinese Tianqi and Julio Ponce Lerou, son-in-law of former dictator Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990).

Estimates from the International Energy Agency (IEA) show that global demand for lithium could multiply by more than 40 by 2040, so controlling an important part of the global chain would translate into economic and geopolitical benefits, according to some analysts. .

Aware of the interest in Chilean lithium, the Government announced in April its long-awaited policy on lithium, which seeks to make the State the main promoter and controller of the industry through a public-private model and a national company.

The state companies Codelco – the largest copper company in the world – and Enami will be in charge of implementing the first phase of the strategy until the national lithium company begins to operate, whose creation has to be approved by Parliament, where the Government does not have most.