Monday, october 7, 2024

Prioritzed salt flats and process for awarding CEOL's to chilean and foreign companies and consortia

One of the goals of the National Lithium Strategy is to facilitate exploration, extraction and processing projects for lithium deposits outside the Salar de Atacama and those salt flats that have been entrusted to state-owned companies to lead the development of public-private partnerships. In this regard, this announcement is addressed to different Chilean and foreign private-sector stakeholders interested in leading projects that contribute to the development of the lithium industry in Chile, within the saline systems that were part of the request for information (RFI) process carried out by the Mining Ministry between April and June 2024.

The Lithium and Salt Flats Committee, created by Resolution No. 62 of 2023 of the Chilean Economic Development Agency (CORFO), with the purpose of leading the implementation of various actions included in the National Lithium Strategy, through Agreement No. 2 of Session No. 7, Resolution No. 51 of 2024 of CORFO, determined that the mechanisms to define the contractors with whom special lithium operation contracts (CEOL) will be signed, as well as the salt flats or other lithium deposits that will be prioritized for such purposes, would be determined after analyzing the information obtained from the market call to present requests for information (RFI).

The RFI process, approved by Resolution 907 of 2024 of the Mining Ministry, aimed to determine the interest of companies and consortia of companies, both Chilean and foreign, regarding the execution of projects related to the exploration, extraction and processing of lithium in Chile.
The RFI process, therefore, allowed us to determine the market’s interest in developing lithium exploration and extraction projects in different saline systems. Companies from 10 countries participated in the process and, on average, each company or consortium made more than one request for information. We received 88 requests for information, 53 of them for 16 salt flats or saline lakes in the National Geology and Mining Service (SERNAGEOMIN) cadastre, which, according to the service, have the greatest geological potential for lithium; 28 requests for non-cadastral deposits; and seven for salt flats or excluded areas.

Process for awarding CEOLs

With this announcement, we are moving forward with the implementation of the National Lithium Strategy, continuing the RFI process and initiating the process for awarding CEOLs to Chilean and foreign companies or consortia to facilitate the exploration, extraction and processing of lithium. A first tender will be for the following saline systems:
1.    Salar Coipasa, Tarapacá Region.
2.    Salar de Ascotán, Antofagasta Region.
3.    Salar de Ollagüe, Antofagasta Region.
4.    Laguna Verde, Atacama Region.
5.    Salar de Agua Amarga, Atacama Region.
6.    Salar de Piedra Parada, Atacama Region.

These saline systems -which represent 38% of the requests for information made for this type of deposit- were prioritized for having the greatest feasibility, considering the expressions of interest made in the RFI process, the favorable geological characteristics for the development of lithium projects and the environmental aspects that would enable or facilitate adequate progress in awarding CEOLs in the shortest possible time. It should be noted that the ministry will only award one CEOL for each prioritized salt flat or lake.

In order to facilitate this process, indigenous consultation processes will begin shortly in these six saline systems. Once the consultation process for each case is concluded, and the supreme decree establishing the requirements and conditions of the CEOL has been issued, public tenders will be opened, the rules and conditions of which will be contained in the respective bases that will be announced during 2025.

However, the process also includes a simplified procedure to speed up the awarding of CEOLs in the six prioritized saline systems, in order to ensure the prompt execution of the most viable projects. To access this procedure, companies or consortia must have experience in any stage of the lithium industry value chain, the financial capacity to develop the project and, additionally, a percentage of mining concessions equivalent to or greater than 80% of the polygon in any of the prioritized saline systems (details of these polygons can be found in the Annex to this document).

Those interested in participating in the simplified procedure will have until December 31, 2024 to submit a CEOL application for each saline system.

They must attach documents that prove they meet the stated requirements, as provided in a resolution that the Mining Ministry will issue within the next few weeks. Once compliance with the requirements has been verified, the Mining Ministry will present the applicant with a CEOL model. If there is agreement between the parties, the contract will be signed only once the indigenous consultation process has been concluded -reflecting any agreements reached within it- and the supreme decree establishing the CEOL requirements and conditions has been issued. In cases where agreement is reached through the simplified procedure, there will be no public tender.

Finally, a second list of prioritized saline systems and deposits will be released during the last quarter of this year.

ANNEX: Polygons of the prioritized saline systems

This annex indicates the georeferenced vertices of the polygons for the six prioritized saline systems that the ministry will use to measure the percentage of mining property required to access the simplified procedure. However, these polygons are used only as a reference to determine the area over which the CEOL will be awarded, as this area may be modified by virtue of the indigenous consultation process and the agreements reached by the Mining Ministry and the applicant company or consortium.