"SQM gets green light on environmental plan", 30 August 2022

...Chile’s environmental regulator said on Tuesday it approved a compliance plan for lithium producer SQM, a step forward for the company’s operations following a years-long sanctioning process for environmental infractions...

The regulator said SQM’s revision of a previous plan, mandated by a local environmental court in 2020, provides for the gradual reduction of the company’s water and brine extraction in Chile’s northern Atacama salts flat...

“As a company, we have executed a large number of measures as part of the approved (plan), and we hope to implement all the commitments agreed on with the (regulator) and local communities in the coming weeks,” SQM said in a statement.

An audit beginning in 2016 found the company had overextracted brine from which lithium is mined and provided incomplete information to authorities, among other infractions.

The plan establishes a staggered reduction in the maximum brine extraction limit until it reaches 822 liters per second in 2027, slightly less than 50% of the authorized extraction. The plan also allows for a 50% decrease in the total usage of industrial water...