The original article was released on September 12, 2024 by ENAMI in Spanish. The below has been translated to English. (link).

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Within the framework of the technology RFI process, ENAMI selected 8 companies that will test the brine obtained from the salt flats with their direct lithium extraction technologies.

Lithium brine samples extracted from the High Andean Salt Flats, the project that the National Mining Company (ENAMI) is carrying out in the mountain range of the Atacama Region will be sent to laboratories of companies in Australia, Canada, China, the United States, France and England.

These brines will be tested with direct lithium extraction technologies as part of the RFI (request for information) process opened by ENAMI to find the best alternatives, with the lowest possible environmental impact, and that could be used in a future exploitation of these salt flats.

"The technological testing process is the first to be carried out for the brines present in Salares Altoandinos. Now these brines go out to the world, in search of the technologies that best adapt to this project with an open look at innovation and advancing with the technical and environmental challenges posed in the National Lithium Strategy," explained the state-owned company's prosecutor, Javiera Estrada.

The RFI process was opened by ENAMI in March of this year, and a total of 30 institutions from 14 countries with experience in the development of direct lithium extraction technologies participated, with the aim of learning about the advances and opportunities presented by their alternatives.

After an analysis of each participant, a process for which a multidisciplinary committee of experts was formed, the state-owned company decided to test its brine with 8 institutions. These are: Adionics (France), CADL – LANSHEN (China), ERAMET (France), LILAC Solutions (USA), RIO TINTO (Australia), SLB (USA), SUMMIT NANOTECH (Canada) and WaterCycle Technologies (England).

The brine extracted from the High Andean Salt Flats was first transferred from the mountain range of the Atacama Region to ENAMI's facilities in Paipote, Copiapó commune. From there, the bins (ponds) of one cubic meter traveled to Santiago in a truck and will now go out into the world to be subjected to the corresponding technological tests.

The process convened by ENAMI represents the intention of generating a change with respect to the traditional exploitation of lithium in Chile, which is carried out through evaporation pools. The drawback of this mechanism is that the evaporated flow leaves the basin, affecting the water balance, and therefore the National Lithium Strategy poses the challenge of considering new technologies.

The exploration campaign in the High Andean Salt Flats, which was resumed this September, to date has 1,350 meters drilled in Aguilar and La Isla. Preliminary data confirm the high potential of the project, which positions it among the most important in Latin America.

Along with this technology RFI process, ENAMI is advancing in parallel in the stage of selecting the operating partner(s) or financiers to carry out the Salares Altoandinos project, from a list of interested parties made up of world-class companies. According to the state-owned company's schedule, it is expected to have selected the partner and/or financier of the project in March.