The SEA begins indigenous consultation for the El Abra mining project in Antofagasta

The Environmental Evaluation Service (SEA) of the Antofagasta Region has resolved to initiate the Indigenous Peoples Consultation Process (PCPI) within the framework of the environmental evaluation of the Environmental Impact Study (EIA) for the project “Operational Continuity of Minera El Abra and Development of Concentrator Plant with Water Transition to Desalinated Water”. The decision is contained in exempt resolution No. 202602101438, dated September 21, 2026, and was published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Chile on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, in Section I, under official reference CVE 2876610. The process will apply to the indigenous human groups located within the project’s area of influence who are directly affected by it.

The regulatory framework of the consultation

The procedure is based on the standards of ILO Convention No. 169 concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries and Article 85 of the Regulations of the Environmental Impact Evaluation System (SEIA). The project owner is Sociedad Contractual Minera El Abra.

The resolution was issued by the Antofagasta Regional Directorate of the SEA, headed by Tomás Ballesteros Cohen, who signed the published notice. The full text of the resolution can be consulted at the SEA Antofagasta Regional Directorate, located at Avda. República de Croacia N° 0336, Antofagasta, and also through the link published in the official notice itself.

The convened communities

The PCPI will be carried out with four indigenous communities identified in the resolution:

• Atacameña Indigenous Community of Taira.
• Aymara Indigenous Community of Quillagua.
• Indigenous Community of Chunchuri.
• Atacameña Indigenous Community of Conchi Viejo.

The notice specifies that this list is not exclusive: if, during the evaluation process, significant impacts on other human groups belonging to indigenous peoples are determined, their participation in the ongoing PCPI will be appropriate.

Deadlines and methodology to be agreed upon

The deadlines, methodology, mechanisms, procedures, and scopes of the process will be agreed upon with the participating communities, as established in the published extract. The electronic evaluation file of the project is permanently available to the public and can be consulted through the SEA website.

The notice appears in Section I of the bulletin, dedicated to laws, regulations, decrees, and resolutions of general order, within the General Norms section, under the heading of the Ministry of the Environment.

Impact of the decision

The opening of the PCPI marks the beginning of a formally regulated stage of indigenous participation in a large-scale mining project with water implications in the area, as its designation includes a transition toward the use of desalinated water. For the Atacameño and Aymara communities within the area of influence, the process opens the instance where the conditions of their participation will be defined and where deadlines and methodology must be agreed upon. The notice also leaves the door open for other communities to join if the evaluation detects significant impacts on them, which could expand the scope of the process before the environmental processing concludes.

Source: Official Gazette of the Republic of Chile, No. 44,561, Tuesday, September 29, 2026, Section I (General Norms), p. 1 (official reference: CVE 2876610).