Good News & Bad News, page-10967

The Drama in the Atacama continues. SQM gets to see the report, ALB doesn't. Hard rockers are in the box seat and rubbing hands together. DLEers are wanting to rub their hands together but have proven nothing yet at scale.


Albemarle slams Chile over 'unjust' withholding of Atacama study
2021-03-05 12:03:59

Albemarle Corp, the world's top lithium producer, has accused a Chilean regulator of "unjust" discrimination
for refusing to make public a key report on the impact of mining on the Atacama salt flat, according to court
filings.
U.S.-based Albemarle in July last year asked to see the publicly funded report but regulator Corfo rejected the
request after Chilean miner SQM, a top competitor, objected on grounds it contained confidential information.
A government watchdog upheld the decision.
Both Albemarle and SQM - the only two lithium miners on the salt flat - contributed data to the report. But
while SQM's contract with the government allows it to review and comment on the study, Albemarle's
agreement does not.
Albemarle blasted that discrepancy in previously unreported arguments made before a Santiago appeals
court in February, saying it resulted in "arbitrary, unjust, illegal, and above all, unconstitutional discrimination."
The company is appealing the watchdog's decision and demanding the report be made public immediately.
Albemarle has for months also feuded with Corfo over royalty payments, and with another Chilean regulator
over data used to determine its production quota.
Corfo disclosed that it had sent a final draft of the environmental study - meant to guide government
regulation and oversight of the flat - to SQM for review on Feb. 16.
Corfo's contract with SQM requires it offer the company the opportunity to comment, but the agency is not
required to implement the company's suggested changes.
The regulator said it would make the final draft public following SQM's review "provided that any eventual
affected third parties did not oppose its release."