“The bases do not leave room to suspend”

Willy Kracht, coordinator of the mining team of President-elect Gabriel Boric, acknowledged that the possibility of postponing or suspending the lithium tender coordinated by the Government of Sebastián Piñera is practically nil, but pointed out that articles focused on the investment in research and giving back to communities.

Kracht, who is also director of the Department of Mining Engineering at the University of Chile (DIMin), told Pulse that “postponing or suspending apparently is outside the bidding rules. The bases, as they are written, do not leave room to suspend or postpone. That is what they gave us to understand. However, there is the possibility of incorporating in the contracts the two points that we propose: retribution to the communities and investment in R&D ”, said the also director of the Department of Mining Engineering of the University of Chile (DIMin) in an interview with Pulse.

Last Wednesday, the biminister of Mining and Energy, Juan Carlos Jobet, met with the team of the President-elect to refer to the lithium tender and where Jobet promised to respond to Boric’s concerns before announcing the results of the process.

Meanwhile, President Piñera defended this Friday the criticized lithium tender, stating that “Chile is the country with the largest lithium reserves in the world, we have about 40% of the world’s reserves and we were the world’s leading lithium producer. , we are no longer “.

“Lithium is today an essential mineral for the society to come, to combat climate change, electromobility, everything that we are going to require, lithium is going to be a fundamental element,” he argued.

In that sense, he clarified that “as a Government, after seeing that lithium production in Chile had stagnated (…) we decided to implement a strategic plan for the use of lithium and we have started an international bidding process for 4% of lithium reserves in our country ”.

“Therefore, this tender was international, transparent, the bases known, approved by the Comptroller’s Office,” said the president.