Santiago, Chile, December 19, 2025.- The Comptroller General of the Republic approved the contracts signed between Corfo and Minera Tarar SpA, a subsidiary of Codelco, a milestone that fulfills the last condition established in the Association Agreement with SQM for the joint development of lithium in the Atacama Salt Flat.

With this approval—which includes guidelines that Codelco will address within the timeframe requested by the authority—the agreement has met all the authorizations, reviews, and validations required by the various competent authorities, both in Chile and abroad. Only the final legal and administrative steps remain before the merger of the Codelco and SQM subsidiaries, which will form the joint venture, can be completed. The signing of the contracts between Corfo and Minera Tarar, as well as the modification of the existing contracts between Corfo and SQM, was made possible after an Indigenous consultation process led by Corfo.

Since the start of negotiations in May 2023, the announcement of the Memorandum of Understanding in December of that year, and its formalization in May 2024, the Partnership Agreement has received a series of approvals from international and local authorities. These include the Chilean National Economic Prosecutor's Office (FNE) and the competition authorities of Brazil, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, the European Union, and the People's Republic of China, which reviewed the agreement and confirmed its compliance with competition rules, thus consolidating all the necessary international authorizations.

Additionally, the merging Codelco and SQM subsidiaries received approval from the Chilean Nuclear Energy Commission (CChEN) for extraction quotas.

“We deeply value and appreciate the work done by the Comptroller General of the Republic for the approval process, as this milestone completes all the authorizations and reviews that this Partnership Agreement required from the various national and international authorities. This process, which involved a large team of professionals, has been lengthy, rigorous, and demanding, and demonstrates the commitment to institutional integrity, transparency, and technical excellence that characterizes this strategic project, which is of such high benefit to Chile,” said Codelco's Chairman of the Board, Máximo Pacheco.

Now, Codelco and SQM are moving towards the final steps for the merger of Codelco and SQM subsidiaries that will form the joint venture for the development of lithium in the Atacama Salt Flat under a long-term strategy that aims for the sustainable development of this key resource for the global energy transition.

Codelco