Chile’s environmental regulator on Wednesday defended in court its approval of a plan by top lithium miner SQM to remediate damage to the Atacama salt flat, appealing a lower court decision to scrap the agreement and setting the stage for a new and prolonged legal battle.
Chile’s Environmental Superintendent (SMA) blessed SQM’s $25-million compliance plan in 2019 after a multi-year investigation that found SQM had over-drawn lithium-rich brine from the salt flat. But a local environmental court in Antofagasta in December invalidated the plan, calling it "insufficient".