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RJR Raúl del Barrio
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Salar de Maricunga, Copiapó the lithium capital of the world? #chile, #argentina, #bolivia, #lithium, #oscarvargasvillazon, #RJRsalarspam, Raul Del Barrio November 29, 2023.

RJR Salar is a mining company arising from the partnership between Inversiones RYR Ltda. and Minera Del Barrio Ltda., whose main objective is the acquisition, exploration and development of lithium, potassium and boron mining prospects.
Partners: Raúl del Barrio Olivares José L. From the Olivares Aldo Moreno Salinas neighborhood
Given the evolution of the market and the potential of lithium, RJR SALAR has focused on lithium.
Currently, 2023, RJR SALAR SpA has more than 54,000 hectares of exploration mining concessions in different salt flats in Chile. The most famous for its high concentration of lithium is the Olimpo concession in the Salar de Maricunga, 2,100 hectares.

The problem: The legal regime for lithium is different from that for all other minerals. This is because in 1979, a decree law classified it as "non-concessionable", that is, it cannot be concessioned and the State determines what is done with it.

However, this classification was not included in the 1980 Constitution, although it was considered in the 1983 Mining Code.

This exceptional character surrounding lithium is the subject of debate among those in favour of giving it greater freedom of exploitation, who argue "economic reasons over strategic ones".

Therefore, the "non-concessionable" category, plus the "chameleon-like" legal framework that regulates lithium, opens several fronts on its ownership.

This conflict led the State Defense Council (CDE), a body that assumes the defense of public entities within the legal sphere, to file an appeal in 2021 against Simco of the Errázuriz Group, which determines that it has concessions to exploit potassium and not lithium.

It is acknowledged that they knew that the area of the Maricunga salt flat was complicated, since it has many owners with mining properties, but it clarifies that "the state-owned company could become the only company with permission to extract lithium in Maricunga, since the Ministry of Mining accepted a legal appeal to modify the legal interpretation of the domain of the Maricunga salt flat".

The reactions of Simco and the concessionaires prior to 1979 have not been long in coming, and they did not hesitate to complain about the effects that a possible change in the legal interpretation of mining property would have.

Currently, there is an open dialogue between the concessionaires and Minister Williams and in a few days, in December, the final rules on the issue of concessionaires included in the National Lithium Strategy will be known.

This legal certainty that characterizes Chile will allow the arrival of large world leaders in EV technology willing to invest billions to make Copiapó the lithium capital of the world.

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