Chile’s Supreme Court Orders Mining Company to Close Unauthorized Water Wells

SANTIAGO—Chile’s Supreme Court has ordered mining company Sociedad Contractual Minera Compañía de Salitre y Yodo Soledad (Cosayach) to fill in 35 unauthorized water wells on the environmentally sensitive Pampa del Tamarugal in the arid northern Tarapaca region.

The Oct. 28 ruling (Case No. 5826-2009) came in a case brought against the iodine and nitrates producer by government lawyers at the State Defense Council (Consejo de Defensa del Estado).

In December 2006, inspectors from Chile’s General Water Authority (Direccion General de Aguas) found that Cosayach was extracting up to 252 liters (67 gallons) per second of water from the pampa’s aquifer, ...