Chile fast-tracks new lithium deals: project pipeline and JV signals for mine planners
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan

First reported on MINING.com
30 Second Briefing
Chile’s mining ministry will send five new Special Lithium Operation Contracts (CEOLs) for salars including Ascotán, Piedra Parada and Agua Amarga to the national comptroller in March, while advancing direct-award deals at Ollague and Laguna Verde before President Gabriel Boric leaves office. Regulators recently blocked CEOLs for Quillagua Norte and Quillagua Este over “legal deficiencies”, sharpening the distinction between private CEOL tenders and state–private JVs such as Codelco–SQM’s Nova Andino Litio and Codelco–Rio Tinto’s Maricunga project. Chile targets lifting lithium output from 280,000 t/y in 2024 to about 430,000 t/y by 2034.
Technical Brief
- Regulatory blockage at Quillagua Norte and Este arose from “legal deficiencies” in CEOL award requirement setting.
- Three applications — Quillagua Norte, Quillagua Este and Planta El Águila — remain stalled under ongoing regulatory review.
- Direct-award contracts at Ollague and Laguna Verde are being advanced on a separate track from tenders.
- CEOL processing rules differ from state–private JV frameworks used by Codelco, Enami, SQM and Rio Tinto.
- Nova Andino Litio (Codelco–SQM) and Salares Altoandinos are cited as reference JV structures under the national strategy.
- Codelco’s Maricunga JV with Rio Tinto is awaiting antitrust approvals in both Chile and China before shareholder signing.
Our Take
Codelco’s push into lithium via assets such as Maricunga and the Nova Andino JV comes as our database shows it simultaneously locking in long-life copper capacity (e.g. the Ministro Hales life extension to 2054), signalling a strategy to leverage state backing across both base and battery metals in Chile’s north.
With more than 40 untapped salt flats in Chile’s north and a JV-led model, smaller players like Enami are likely to depend on technical and financial partnerships with groups such as Rio Tinto or SQM, which already have brine processing expertise that can shorten ramp-up timelines on new salares.
Among the 104 lithium-tagged pieces in our coverage, relatively few involve direct state operators like Codelco, so Chile’s fast-tracked JV framework is unusual compared with more market-led regimes in other Latin American jurisdictions and will be closely watched for how it balances control with permitting speed.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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