Santiago, April 24, 2025.- The partnership agreement between Codelco and SQM continues to make steady progress toward implementation. The National Economic Prosecutor's Office (FNE) approved this alliance today, which seeks to create a joint venture for the exploitation of lithium in the Salar de Atacama.

The parties submitted their notification to the FNE at the end of July 2024, and the agency initiated the background review period in September. With today's decision, the FNE has approved the implementation of the partnership, subject to certain information management and operating protocols, which are standard in merger control matters.

“This is an important milestone. The prosecutor's office has studied this transaction for nine months, with all the required rigor and thoroughly analyzing all the documentation we have provided. We are very satisfied with this ruling, because it confirms that the partnership is progressing as planned and that the necessary conditions for its execution are being systematically met,” commented Máximo Pacheco, Chairman of the Board of Codelco.

With this new step, the FNE's approval joins those already issued by the competition authorities of Brazil, South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and the European Union. Thus, most of the required international regulatory authorizations have been met, with only China's announcement remaining.

These approvals are part of the preconditions that were defined in May 2024 with the signing of the definitive agreements and that must be met for both companies to materialize the partnership with the merger of their subsidiaries Minera Tarar and SQM Salar.

In parallel, other key processes continue to advance, such as the indigenous consultation led by Corfo and the authorizations from the Chilean Nuclear Energy Commission (CCHEN). The Corporation continues working to ensure the agreement can be finalized during the second half of this year, thus marking a strategic step toward the sustainable development of lithium in Chile.

Codelco