Company: SQM
Filing Date: 2025-04-24
Form Type: 20-F
Source: 0000909037-25-000020
Chunk: 123

Company: CHEMICAL & MINING CO OF CHILE INC
Filing Date: 2025-04-24
Form: 20-F
Item: Item 4A
Chunk 123
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 (iii) allow the concession to expire. Additionally, the current modifications to the Mining Code under Law 21,420 and others, modified the validity of the exploration concessions, which will be four years, allowing the validity to be extended for up to four more years for a single time if geological information is delivered as a result of the exploration or if an RCA has been obtained or an admissible project has been entered into the Environmental Impact Assessment System.
According to the terms of the SQM-Corfo Agreements, with respect to lithium production, the Chilean Commission on Nuclear Energy (CCHEN) established a total accumulated extraction limit set as amended by the Corfo Arbitration Agreement in January 2018, up to 349,553 metric tons of lithium metallic equivalent (1,860,670 tons of lithium carbonate equivalent), which is in addition to the approximately 64,816 metric tons of lithium metallic equivalent (345,015 tons of lithium carbonate equivalent) remaining from the originally authorized amount in the aggregate for all periods while the SQM-Corfo Agreements are in force. As of December 31, 2024, six years remain on the term of the SQM-Corfo Agreements. See “Item10.C. Material Contracts – SQM-Corfo Agreements”
The environmental permit Resolución de Calificación Ambiental (RCA No. 226/2006, issued on October 19th, 2006, by COREMA (Comisión Regional del Medio Ambiente or Regional Environmental Commission) authorizes SQM to extract brines via pumping wells from two areas in the western and southwestern portions of the areas defined in the SQM-Corfo Agreements. SQM refers to these brine extraction areas as AAE zones (Áreas Autorizadas para la Extracción or Authorized Areas of Extraction), and they are further divided based on the products historically generated in each sector: (i) The northern portion is denominated the AAE-SOP, where “SOP” signifies sulfato de potasio (potassium sulfate product), and it covers a surface area of 10,512 hectares which is equivalent to 29.27% of the total AAE area; (ii) the southern portion is referred to as AAE-MOP, where “MOP” indicates muriato de potasio (potassium chloride product), covering a surface area of 25,399 hectares that is equivalent to 70.73% of the total AAE area.
SQM routinely