June 28, 2022 - The National Mining Company revealed that it will seek to build a new plant in the Atacama Region, after the closure of the Ventanas smelter due to pollution episodes.  The repercussions continue after the government of Gabriel Boric announced the closure of the Ventanas division of Codelco, due to the contamination episodes in Quintero and Puchuncaví.  In this context, El Mercurio revealed that the National Mining Company (Enami) confirmed that this year it will start the environmental process to build a new smelter in Paipote, in the Atacama Region.  The executive vice president of Enami, Jaime Pérez de Arce, assured that the investment for the plant would exceed US$ 1,000 million.  Along the same lines, Pérez de Arce said that they will also request a Special Lithium Operation Contract (CEOL).  In the same way, from the state company they made a request for the project to be developed with the highest global standards in terms of pollution.

June 20. 2022 -  Vedanta Ltd has decided to put its 4,00,000 ton per annum (tpa) copper smelter plant and refining complex at Tuticorin for sale. The copper smelter plant complex is known as Sterlite Copper. The company along with Axis Capital has called for Expression of Interest (EoI) for its smelter complex (primary and secondary), sulphuric acid plant, copper refinery, continuous copper rod plant, phosphoric acid plant, effluent treatment plant, 160 MW captive power plant, reverse osmosis units, oxygen generation unit and residential complex with amenities.  However, an environmental activist, who is against the Copper Smelter plant, wondered whether the company can sell the plant when a case is pending in the Supreme Court. The decision came as a surprise to many as the company was saying that it would reopen the plant. According to Vedanta, the plant produces about 40 per cent of the country's demand for copper and contributes about Rs 2,500 crore per annum to the exchequer and 12 per cent of Tuticorin Port's revenue.  Curiously last March, Vedanta came out with an EoI about its decision to set up a 500,000 tpa copper smelter plant in a coastal region in India. The company has sought expression of interest from coastal states wishing to partner in the project that would have an investment potential of about Rs 10,000 crore through a newspaper advertisement. According to Vedanta, the proposed project would need about 1,000 acre in proximity to port along with logistics connectivity with conveyor/corridor of rail and road to handle five million tpa material movement on both in-bound and out-bound sides.  The company said the project has a potential to provide direct and indirect employment to 10,000 people and will contribute about Rs 3,000 crore to the government treasury as taxes and others. Senior officials were not available to reply IANS query whether the company is exiting Tuticorin. Later in a statement, the company said India's copper requirements are set to grow exponentially in the coming years.  Having ample supplies of copper is critical to ensuring successful implementation of new-gen technologies such as electric vehicles, rapid automated transport and clean energy, the company said. "We are, therefore, actively on the lookout for a suitable partner state to help take forward the vision of an Atmanirbhar Bharat and ensure that our nation enjoys unfettered access to copper, through a state-of-the-art copper manufacturing plant, the operational and environmental parameters of which are comparable to the best in the world," Vedanta said. According to Vedanta, the closure of Tuticorin copper smelter plant has had a ripple effect in terms of imports and livelihoods. "Post closure, India has become a net importer of copper for the first time in 18 years, with copper imports growing 3X while exports have plunged by 90 per cent. We are continuing to explore all legal avenues towards achieving a sustainable solution to the closure," the company had said. The Tamil Nadu government had ordered the copper smelter plant to be shut down in 2018 following a violent protest that led to the death of 13 persons in police firing. The 4,00,000 ton Sterlite Copper smelter plant that has been operating in Tuticorin for over 25 years with a cumulative investment of about Rs 3,000 crore. However, from the start, Sterlite Copper smelter plant has been facing protests by the local people alleging that it pollutes the environment. Originally, the plant was planned in Goa, but it faced severe opposition from the state's people. However, the AIADMK regime under J. Jayalalithaa gave a warm welcome to the project and allotted land at Tuticorin.  Ever since then the plant was in the eye of a storm with MDMK leader Vaiko leading a protest against the project and later filing a case. The major political parties in Tamil Nadu -- AIADMK and DMK -- are against Vedanta's copper smelter plant in Tuticorin. The Supreme Court is hearing the case on an appeal filed by the company against the Madras High Court's refusal to reopen the Sterlite Copper smelter plant in Tuticorin. Reacting to the latest advertisement Fatima Babu, one of the persons who had filed a case against Sterlite Copper told IANS: "It has to be seen whether the company can sell the plant when a case is pending in the Supreme Court. There seems to be a hidden agenda in the advertisement as it makes several claims like state-of-the-art plant and others." "Our stand is clear. The copper smelter plant should not be in Tuticorin whether under the name Sterlite Copper owned by Vedanta or by any other owner," she said. She added that if Vedanta wants to set up a new copper smelter then it can do so by complying with the law anywhere else.

June 17, 2022 - Chile President Gabriel Boric Friday said the state-owned copper producer would begin the closure of the troubled Ventanas smelter after dozens fell ill due to an environmental emergency in the vicinity of the plant.  Codelco decided to close the facility after a peak in sulfur dioxide emissions in the area affected hundreds of high school students and teachers in the region in recent weeks.  “Codelco’s board of directors has decided to move toward the closure of operations at the Ventanas Smelter,” the president said.  He said a thorough study and talks with stakeholders preceded the decision to shut down the facility.  The president announced the decision from the Palace of La Moneda in Santiago after a group of workers protested against the anticipated measure.  He said the closure would be gradual.  “We have said it very clearly, we do not want more sacrifice zones. Thousands live exposed to the environmental deterioration that we have caused and allowed and that as a Chilean embarrasses me.”  The Quintero-Puchuncaví Bay, 160 km northwest of Santiago on the Chilean coast, was declared an “environmental sacrifice zone,” in 1993.  It meant a territory abandoned to industrial deterioration and pollution, permanently affecting human health and biodiversity.  The president assured the affected plant workers and their families that the government would not leave them alone.  “Our government is taking all the necessary steps so that this decision does not negatively affect the workers of the company,” he said.  “I can affirm that no worker will be left jobless. No Codelco worker will be left unprotected, their positions are secured.”  Andrea Cruces, the president of Ventanas union, labeled Codelco board chairman Máximo Pacheco a “traitor.”  Cruces said Pacheco would “be remembered in history as the one who betrayed Chilean mining.”  “You sold us and told the government that you were going to close the windows without a confrontation.”  Multiple cases of poisoning were reported with up to more than 100 students taking ill in the region.  Dozens of students from an educational institute in Quintero developed symptoms like dizziness and headaches on Friday morning.