SQM participates in Exponor 2019

Following the launch of Exponor 2019 and the official visit to SQM’s stand by Board Chairman Alberto Salas; Mining Minister Baldo Prokurica; Regional Governor Marco Antonio Díaz; and Antofagasta Mayor Karen Rojo, among other officials, SQM began its robust participation in the event, which receives an average of 5,000 visits each day.

With its presence in the exterior pavilion at Exponor, SQM captivated visitors’ attention with a welcoming stand featuring a charging station and broad sampling of electric vehicles, showcasing the fact that lithium plays a key role in electro mobility and the energies that move the world. The Company also presented hydroponic crops fertilized with potassium nitrate produced at Coya Sur which reflect the outcomes obtained by farmers in Socaire, Talabre, Quillagua and La Tirana, towns in which SQM and the community have created productive greenhouses that boost local agricultural activity and the household economies of beneficiaries.

This year’s biggest development was the visit by 300 children from Antofagasta, Toconao, Tocopilla and María Elena who participated in 13 robotics workshops offered by Vilti Semann, a program run by Universidad Católica del Norte. The Company has worked with this entity for the past five years in Tocopilla to develop an educational program that seeks to increase children’s cognitive development through innovative learning methods linked to the applied sciences. The students invited to Exponor used robots to learn about the production, uses and applications of lithium, nitrate, iodine and solar salts.

In addition to the activities held at the stand, SQM representatives participated in 61 business roundtables and technical lectures. The second level of the stand held a meeting room where the Purchasing and Supplies Area met with nearly 100 suppliers who are interested in connecting with SQM.

As has been the case in the past, a select group of 33 providers involved in the mining industry—most of them foreign nationals—visited Salar de Atacama to tour the facilities and learn about the lithium production chain.

Over the course of the four-day event, over 300 employees from various SQM sites visited our stand and toured the five pavilions at the fair. They also offered five seminars on the challenges and future plans of the mining sector. Nitrate and Iodine Operations Senior Vice-President José Miguel Berguño offered one of the talks. After the event ended, he noted that, “We are very satisfied with our active participation in Exponor, which has allowed us to tell people who we are and what we have planned as a company. This also was an opportunity to tell the community about our products, production processes and the uses and applications of each of them. Our stand offered a series of activities, and that made us one of the most visited companies at the event.”

The next version of this international mining innovation and technology fair will be held in 2021 in Germany.