Ann: The new Chilean National Lithium Policy, page-65

The thing I'm trying to understand, and I completely acknowledge that $600m+ is a lot of money, is why if the project is fully permitted and shovel ready, will it take until the end of the year (up to 8 months) before they break ground?

This isn't a new timeline, they've stated this for a while now, but why so far away?

Surely they know where the ponds are going to go, and starting to excavate them should be a relatively straightforward task.

Could it be they might want to announce stages 1 and 2 being consolidated and the use of DLE as that is the preferred (but not mandatory) extraction method of the government?

The government wants and needs a win, and getting into production as quickly as possible for them would be a significant carrot.

What would that mean for the water rights?

If the government drag their heels, the company could always go it alone with the evaporation method, but would that then upset Codelco - who seem slaty (excuse the pun), given they just had their greedy claim dismissed in appeals court?

For me, it's Codelco who are the wildcard, not the government. They seem like they'd be more like the "deep state", where the leadership there are (I'm assuming) not refreshed with each new government.