CORFO commissions CODELCO to lead negotiation process for future lithium contracts in the Salar de Atacama

The highest authorities of the Chilean Economic Development Agency (CORFO) and the State-Owned Copper Company (CODELCO) met today to start the process that will directly incorporate the Chilean State into lithium production operations in the Salar de Atacama. The aim is to begin to implement the main points contained in the National Lithium Strategy presented by the President last April. 

As owner of the mining activities in the Salar de Atacama and the entity responsible for carrying out operations there that generate the greatest benefits for the country and surrounding communities, CORFO has established the basic conditions for a future exploitation contract by means of a letter. It will now be subject to approval by the council that awards the corresponding administrative and regulatory authorizations. 

The Executive Vice President of CORFO, José Miguel Benavente, stated, “as is public knowledge, and as we have discussed directly with representatives of the companies involved, the existing contracts will be fully respected and the ownership of the mining assets will remain in the hands of CORFO, being exploited through lease contracts.” 

In Benavente’s opinion, the start of this negotiation process with the companies currently operating in the Salar de Atacama, or third parties, is “an opportunity to meet the goal indicated by President Boric for the State to participate before the current lease contracts expire. For this reason, CODELCO, as a public company with long experience and proven capabilities, has been entrusted with finding the best ways to achieve this purpose.” 

Meanwhile, CODELCO’s chairman of the board, Máximo Pacheco, said that the company will start talks to form public-private alliances to give continuity to productive activities in the Salar de Atacama for a period that extends beyond 2030. As a state-owned company, CODELCO will acts as controller of corporations that are formed for these purposes. 

“Today, the actions that the board of directors has initiated to begin exploiting lithium in the Salar de Atacama are taking shape. It is a strategic and convenient business for the company and its shareholder, the Chilean State. We will consolidate our position at an international level as producers of two of the minerals critical to the global energy transition,” Pacheco stressed. 

Contract conditions 

The basic conditions that CORFO has established for a future lease of its activities emphasize the maintenance of benefits for the State, environmental issues, relations with local communities and the territory, financing research and development (R+D) initiatives, scientific-technological cooperation and preferential prices for lithium products for companies that add value in Chile:  

• Maintain the benefits that the State currently receives, through lease income collected by CORFO, as well as other contributions that SQM has committed to with the regional government, local governments and the indigenous communities surrounding the Salar. 
• Maintain and improve the application of the clauses that allow the financing of R+D activities in Chile, especially in the regions where lithium is exploited, with the aim of developing and generating knowledge, technology and capacities to promote socially-sustainable development and economic progress.
• Maintain and update the application of the clauses that provide for the sale of lithium products that are sold at preferential prices to companies that offer to develop productive activities of greater added value in Chile. 
• Update and strengthen the commitments to environmental care, in accordance with the legal regulations in force in Chile and the international standards that define the framework for implementing the National Lithium Strategy, in order that they tend to a sustainable operation in the long term. 
• Commit to the technical analysis and subsequent implementation of new lithium extraction technologies and, in general, production processes that ensure care for the environment, especially in the areas of hydrogeology, water and energy, and that contribute as much as possible to improving the living conditions of local communities in the Salar de Atacama and Antofagasta Region. 
• Commit to implementing the highest standards of permanent, transparent and participatory relationship with the indigenous communities surrounding the Salar de Atacama. 
• Commit to developing scientific-technological cooperation activities and knowledge transfer.