SQM in Salar de Atacama during 2022

News

12-01-2023

Within the framework of its robust Sustainability Plan, SQM carried out a series of initiatives to create shared social value and prioritize respect for people and care for the environment and the communities near its operations.

Contributing to Community Development and Environmental Protection

Health and the promotion of female leadership played an important role in the company initiatives. One example is the formation of the Alianza de la Mujer AMA working group, which arose to meet the municipality’s needs from an inclusion and gender perspective. Along these lines, more than 433 women in the area were provided the means for mammograms, and in the second semester, more than 500 medical services were provided to patients in the municipality through the NGO Traesol, which included the presence of doctors with specialties that do not exist in the municipal public health services.

Continuing in the area of health, more than 5,000 services were provided by the Mobile Dental Clinic, which began in March 2021, and due to the success of the program, in mid-2022 two new mobile clinics were added to provide greater coverage. Additionally, this year saw the inauguration of the first community pharmacy in the territory that also offers home delivery. This project made it possible to offer medications associated with the Cenabast Law and the bioequivalent or generic category that were not previously sold in the municipality, all at a lower price.

Ongoing Dialogue

Javier Silva, SQM Salar Sustainability and Community Engagement Manager, said, “What we are looking for is to generate a long-term outlook with responsibility from the territory, create trust-based relationships that allow us to provide sustainability and environmental actions, from a line of thinking with open dialogue between the community and our company.”

An example of collaborative work was the inauguration of the first potable water plant, which was added to the photovoltaic plant inaugurated a year ago by the Atacameña de Camar Indigenous Community. This initiative, which benefits more than 100 families, began to take shape in 2021 under the objectives of the development plan generated by the town to identify its most pressing needs.

Other initiatives include the E-kart race to promote electromobility in Toconao, attracting nearly 200 boys and girls, the first Baby Soccer tournament, the Academic Equivalency Program, which benefited 88 students, and support for the third Lakitas meeting and reconstruction of the San Lucas de Toconao Chapel, among other actions, all aligned with the company’s various objectives set forth in its Sustainability Plan.