Atacama wins SQM legal victory

摘要

Atacama Minerals Corp., 50 percent owner of the Aguas Blancas iodine-nitrates-sulphates mine in Chile, has won a key legal battle with fertiliser and chemicals producer Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile SA (SQM) at Chile's Supreme Court. The Court upheld Atacama's claim to the richly mineralised Andres leases located in the middle of its Aguas Blancas property.Atacama does not yet have specific reserve estimates for Andres since it stopped work on the property when the ownership dispute began in 1998. However, Rick Clark, Atacama's president, describes Andres as a 'jewel', adding that its reserves of high grade iodine and sulphates could extend production at Aguas Blancas by an additional eight to ten years.