LatinNews Daily - 29 January 2026

*Chile’s state defence council (CDE), a public institution which represents the government in legal proceedings, has announced that the supreme court has confirmed the legality of the agreement between state-owned mining company Codelco and private Chilean company Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile SA (SQM) to develop lithium in the Atacama salt flats. According to a CDE statement, the judiciary has upheld a decision from the Santiago court of appeals in November last year which rejected the appeal of Chinese mining company Tianqi, which holds a stake in SQM. Tianqi petitioned for the deal to be suspended with the argument that the Codelco-SQM deal should have been put to a vote by company shareholders rather than just being approved by the boards of each company. However, according to the CDE, the supreme court deemed that Tianqi’s appeal failed to clearly identify the laws being infringed. The CDE cited its president, Raúl Letelier, as hailing the ruling which “confirms the correctness in the exercise of the powers of the State of Chile to deploy a public policy essential for the country’s development”. The CDE statement also described the supreme court decision as “definitively ending the controversy”.

End of preview - This article contains approximately 195 words.

Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article

Not a Subscriber?

Choose from one of the following options

• Subscribe
• Sign up for a one-time, 14-day trial