Im definitely not an expert but from what I can tell. Looks like Willy and the also CODELCO is arguing that Lithium is a metal and the concessions made before 1979 are for non-metallic substances. Therefore if lithium is a metal and the old concessions do not cover metals then the old concessions may be invalid. This is the new argument that is being reviewed by the Ministry of Mining, after the past two attempts by CODELCO with different arguments were rejected in previous years. The argument will fail at every level in my opinion. For one, lithium is never found in its metallic state, unlike copper or gold. all lithium mining is for non-metallic lithium salt minerals that include things like carbonates or chlorides. Also the products made from the extraction of non-metallic lithium solutions/salts is not being made into lithium metals products it is made into pure non-metallic lithium salts. These mineral salts are exactly what the old mining concessions where defined for.
The reason that CORFO is involved in the atacama is because they owned the concessions before SQM or albemarle. It was a joint venture with CORFO in 1977 from the start and CCHEN got involved
because it was created 1965 to manage specific minerals which are mined that had links to nuclear fission such as lithium containing minerals. Then in the 1979 when Article 2886 was passed it said all lithium is for the state to control and own except those concessions made previous to 1979 and also those in which CCHEN gives prior approval too (see below quote from
text of Article 2886)
"Article 6 - Article 8 of Law number 16,319 is replaced by the following:
"Due to the national interest, the natural atomic materials and the extracted lithium and the concentrates, derivatives and compounds of those and this, may not be the subject of any kind of legal acts except when they are executed or celebrated by the Chilean Energy Commission Nuclear, with this or with its prior authorization. If the Commission deems it convenient to grant the authorization, it will determine at the same time the conditions under which it is granted. Except for a reason provided for in the granting act, said authorization may not be modified or extinguished by the Commission nor waived by the interested party".
"As for the concessions made prior to 1979, If I am correct I think there was only one concession that had a defined lithium resource and that was the one CORFO was apart of. It wasn't until 1980 that CORFO did a initial exploration and definition of lithium resource in maricunga.
All in all I think CODELCO and Willy's argument comes down to is that if you ignore CCHEN prior approval for maricunga concessions to produce lithium products and then also re-catagorize lithium minerals as lithium metals then it easy to see how the old code concessions are invalid. But these are extreme manipulations of what has happened in the law and the understanding of lithium resources. In my opinion the only reason why this is even being accepted for review is because LPI is about to be the first new lithium producer in chile and the Ministry of Mining will be looking for partners soon and there are two potential partners in maricunga that are about to start producing on their own. I dont think this is going to get approved by the ministry of mining, its going to blow up in their face IMO.
