Chilean SOE and Lithium Giant Jointly Invest $3 Billion to Revamp Atacama Salt Flats

State-owned Chilean mining company Codelco and lithium giant SQM's joint venture Novandino Litio recently increased its budget for its lithium mining project.

The Environmental Manager, Julio Garcia, revealed that after completing the design work for direct lithium extraction technology at the Atacama salt lake, the latest budget has reached 3 billion USD, higher than the previous expectation of over 2 billion USD. The joint venture plans to submit the environmental impact study report to regulatory agencies in June this year.

This project, named Salar Futuro, aims to commercialize direct lithium extraction technology. Compared to the traditional process of evaporating large amounts of brine in arid areas, direct lithium extraction technology integrates nano-filtration and mechanical evaporation, featuring cleaner and more efficient characteristics. The key to this process is to re-inject brine after lithium extraction back into the salt lake to maintain the local hydrological and geochemical balance.

Although direct lithium extraction technology is seen as a means to reduce environmental damage, its large-scale commercial success has not yet been proven across the industry. The Atacama salt lake, as a key test site for this technology, its test results will directly affect the global application prospects of the technology. Subject to obtaining environmental and related permits, the project is expected to start at the end of this decade and fully operate in the mid-2030s.

The new project will gradually replace some existing evaporation systems but will still retain some salt fields for potash production and initial concentration, and will completely stop drawing fresh water in the future. Novandino Litio was a joint venture established by SQM and Codelco at the end of last year, when SQM agreed to transfer the majority of its Chilean salt lake assets to Codelco in exchange for an extension of the operation period. Currently, the joint venture has not yet made a final investment decision on this project.