Proactive Investors - CleanTech Lithium PLC (LON:CTL) chief executive Aldo Boitano told investors that the Chilean government has moved forward the country’s national lithium strategy “in a very positive way”.
Chile has agreed on a network of protected salars (salt ‘flats’) that will require further environmental assessment, while the country’s other salars that are outside of the protected network will be open to exploration and exploitation operations.
Companies can, from April, express to the Chilean authorities their interest in developing salars outside of the protected network, CleanTech Lithium noted.
From July, the government will publish a list of the open salars and it will also detail which of those will require further consultations with local indigenous communities and which will not.
The proposals intend to accelerate the development of the country’s lithium sector which, according to Chile’s finance minister Mario Marcel, could see a 70% uplift in production by the end of this decade and potentially double over the next ten years.
CleanTech lithium, in a statement, noted that its projects in Laguna Verde and Francisco Basin are located outside areas declared as protected and outside those that need further environmental study.
"The announcement made by the Chilean Government moves the National Lithium Strategy forward in a very positive way,” Boitano said.
“The news brings certainty to those salt flats that will be subject to a more detailed environmental assessment and those that are for potential exploration and eventually exploitation."
Boitano added: “At CleanTech Lithium, we continue to progress our direct lithium extraction (DLE) projects, highlighting our commitment to mining that minimises its environmental footprint, and listens to the local communities in the Atacama region, both of which are key conditions of Chile's lithium strategic framework.
"The anticipated approval of our CEOLs, submitted in September 2023 by the company, is the next step forward for our projects, while deepening our local community engagement with our existing alliance and deployment of DLE technology".