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The Environmental Superintendent (SMA) had approved SQM's compliance plan in January 2019 after an investigation found it had drawn more lithium-rich brine from the salt flat than it was permitted to do. However, it said it would begin the process anew to comply with a December 2019 decision of a regional environmental court which called the plan insufficient and invalidated it.
Both SQM and the regulator have appealed that decision to Chile´s Supreme Court, but the lower tribunal said environmental regulators must comply with its order even as the Supreme Court considers the case.
