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Codelco|SQM|Chile|Critical Minerals|Electric Vehicles|Lithium|Atacama Salt Flat|Ricardo Ramos
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Chile's Novandino Litio seeks enviro approval for $3bn Atacama lithium project

Atacama salt flat

Atacama salt flat

Photo by Bloomberg

6th July 2026

By: Reuters

  

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SANTIAGO - Novandino Litio, the joint venture between Chilean lithium producer SQM and State-owned copper miner Codelco, filed for environmental approval on Friday for a $3-billion project aimed at extending lithium production in the Atacama salt flat until 2060, a regulatory filing showed.

The "Operational Continuity and Future Mining Development Project in the Atacama Salt Flat" is part of the SQM-Codelco partnership, forged under Chile's plan to boost state involvement in the lithium sector, a critical source of battery materials for electric vehicles.

The project would maintain current operations while gradually introducing new infrastructure and technologies aimed at improving efficiency in lithium production, as well as the extraction of potassium salts and other brine-derived products.

The plan calls for a gradual shift to new processing technologies aimed at reducing freshwater use from company-owned wells, while improving resource efficiency through treated brine reinjection and enhanced environmental monitoring.

SQM CEO Ricardo Ramos said in May he expected final approval for the initiative to be secured in 2029, with investment beginning in 2030.

Edited by Reuters

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