By Daina Beth Solomon
SANTIAGO (Reuters) -Two Indigenous groups in northern Chile have asked a local court to suspend a state-led community review process that is required for a lithium partnership between copper giant Codelco and lithium miner SQM, according to legal documents reviewed by Reuters.
The Indigenous community of Coyo and the Atacameno Association of Irrigators and Farmers of San Pedro de Atacama each independently filed legal challenges last week with a Chilean appeals court in the Antofagasta region, accusing Chilean economic development agency Corfo of not properly carrying out a consultation process to seek their input on the partnership.
The process is one of the final conditions for a deal to go into effect in which state-run Codelco will take a majority stake in SQM’s lithium mining operations in the Atacama salt flat.
The Coyo community and the Atacameno Association of Irrigators and Farmers, which has Indigenous members, said they needed more information and time to be able to provide informed consent on the plan.
The Antofagasta court on Friday accepted their challenges, according to a court document. It ordered Corfo to respond to the allegations within 15 days, and asked Codelco and SQM to provide comments.
Corfo told Reuters that the consultation process was still in progress.
“The Indigenous consultation process with the Atacama Indigenous organizations is moving forward and has been carried out in accordance with the regulations,” the agency said in a statement.
Codelco declined to comment, while SQM did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
The Indigenous consultation, which was led by Corfo and included a few dozen community groups located around the Atacama salt flat, was due to conclude around late July.
SQM and Codelco are separately holding talks with communities near the salt flat to discuss a model for Indigenous oversight over lithium extraction.
The Coyo community and Atacameno Association of Irrigators and Farmers both asked the court to suspend the process until a new methodology for the community review could be implemented, and more information provided.
Both groups said Corfo had not provided enough detail about the proposed contract between Codelco and SQM and argued that the consultation’s timeline between November 2024 and July 2025 was too fast to allow for detailed analysis.
They also said Corfo at several points did not act in good faith, and did not meet the standards set out by the International Labour Organization, a U.N. agency.
“This situation directly affects the fundamental rights of the Community by limiting its influence over decisions that impact its territory, environmental surroundings, and collective rights, thereby violating constitutional guarantees,” the Coyo community said in its court filing.
(Reporting by Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Jamie Freed)
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