RE: This $ucks Money.....6 May 2025 14:01
Interview with Ignacio Mehech in La Tercera translated.
The reason? It didn't reach the 80% ownership requirement set by the Ministry of Mining as a requirement for the simplified process to obtain the coveted CEOL. A headache that now occupies Mehech, who hasn't lost hope, as he asserts that he was looking to return to the lithium industry with a firm like CleanTech, "a company that had developed a project and that promised, as CleanTech does, to be the first lithium company to have an operation in Chile after more than 20 years," he says at the outset, in this, his first interview in the position. Is the contrast between your previous move to a company looking to open a new lithium operation very big? Yes, they are clearly companies at different stages: one that has been operating in Chile for many years and another that is looking to gain a foothold. But with the launch of the national lithium strategy, the doors were opened to new investment and new players, and this makes all the things CleanTech had done to date viable. It's not the same to approach a company with an idea to develop a project as it is to approach a company that has conducted exploration campaigns, has a pilot plant, and has extracted brine from the salt flats through the pilot plant and transported it to the United States, producing lithium carbonate. That's what gives me great optimism; we can be the next relevant player in the market.How do you view the negative outcome of your CEOL application?
We are disappointed with the outcome of the application, but we have great confidence in the institutional framework, and this allows us to submit a re-application (it was submitted last week). We are going to present our arguments and the strength of our project to qualify for a CEOL. The company claimed to have 90% of the project area defined. How do you understand this difference with what the authority has established?- We believe there is a technical basis behind the decision that we may or may not agree with, but the arguments we have are suitable and sustainable enough to force the authority to review our request.If this reinstatement is not successful, do you consider moving forward with the bidding process? -In any case, our commitment to Chile is long-term. We have more than one project. Our Laguna Verde project is the most important and the one we've started with. We've already invested more than US$30 million in developing relationships, knowledge of the salt flat, hydrogeological modeling, we've conducted campaigns in Viento Andino, our other project, and in having what was once the largest pilot plant in South America.The progress that the lithium strategy has made is being questioned by the political world. What would you prefer: lithium being concessionable or continuing on the current path?
For us, the rules are set and clear. The national lithium strategy establishes a way to access resources; we are part of it and believe in the process. Part 1...
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