Lithium

Chile regulator backs SQM lithium production expansion

Chile regulator backs SQM lithium production expansion
Mining News Pro - Chile’s environmental watchdog (SMA) has appealed a lower court decision against a $25 million remediation plan by SQM, the world’s no. 2 lithium producer, which called into question the miner’s $380 million production expansion project.
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According to Mining News Pro - The First Environmental Court of Antofagasta, where SQM’s operations are based, upheld in December a complaint made by local communities about the use of water in the Atacama Desert.

The ruling was based, according to filings, on the ecosystem’s “special condition of fragility” in Atacama, where more than a third of global lithium carbonate supply is sourced. The court also cited the high level of scientific uncertainty surrounding the impact of lithium mining on water in the region.

The environmental regulator, which had approved SQM’s plans in March last year, called the lower court’s arguments “unfounded,” especially those alleging the rejected plan failed to protect the environment.

SMA’s appeal must now be considered by Chile’s Supreme Court.

SQM’s current annual production capacity is 70,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate and 13,500 tonnes of lithium hydroxide. The company, however, wants to increase production to 120,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate and almost 30,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide by the second half of 2021 and to 160,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate by the end of 2023.


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