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Chile Vote Marks First Step in Long Path to Seizing Mines

  • Constitution committee clears proposal in first-instance vote
  • Nationalization motion still faces several major hurdles
Visitors inspect a brine pool at a Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile (SQM) lithium mine on the Atacama salt flat in the Atacama Desert, Chile in May 29, 2019.

Visitors inspect a brine pool at a Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile (SQM) lithium mine on the Atacama salt flat in the Atacama Desert, Chile in May 29, 2019.

Photographer: Cristobal Olivares/Bloomberg
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A proposal that opens the door to nationalizing some of the biggest copper and lithium mines in the world was approved in first instance by a committee as part of the drafting of a new constitution in Chile.

Tuesday’s 13-to-6 vote by members of an environmental committee is the first of several hurdles that the controversial proposal would need to clear before becoming a reality. It would require support from two thirds of the full assembly to become part of the draft charter that will be put to a referendum later this year.