“Environmental Court reviews Indigenous claims against the expansion of Collahuasi mining project in Chile,” February 3, 2025

The Environmental Assessment Service (SEA) requested the dismissal of the claims filed by Indigenous groups concerning the project “Infrastructure Development and Improvement of Productive Capacity at Collahuasi.” The Second Environmental Court held a hearing to examine these claims.

The Indigenous groups are calling for the suspension of the project and the initiation of a new environmental assessment process that includes an Indigenous consultation. Their main arguments are as follows:

• Exclusion of Indigenous communities from the citizen participation process and Indigenous consultation due to an inadequate baseline assessment of the human environment.
• Regulatory non-compliance by the environmental authority regarding meetings with Indigenous communities, in violation of SEA regulations and ILO Convention No. 169.
• Deficiencies in the assessment of the marine component, lack of precision in the project’s baseline, and failure to consider adverse effects on the livelihoods of Indigenous human groups.
• Proximity of the project to populated areas and potential impacts on the region’s landscape value.