"Collahuasi permit setback jolts Chile copper sector", 22 May 2026

...A Chilean environmental court has annulled a key permit for the $3.2 billion expansion of the Collahuasi copper mine...

Chile’s Second Environmental Court overturned the environmental authorization for the project’s desalination plant earlier this month, citing concerns over impacts on Indigenous communities and the surrounding marine environment. 

The ruling forces the Environmental Assessment Service (SEA) to reassess parts of the project, including the seawater system designed to pump desalinated water nearly 200 km inland to the mine at roughly 4,600 metres above sea level...

Desalination projects have become central to Chile’s mining sector as producers move away from freshwater use in the drought-stricken Atacama region. The infrastructure, however, remains expensive and politically sensitive because of marine impacts, high energy demand and the technical challenges of transporting water to high-altitude mines...