In March 2024, Mongabay Latam and Ciper published a joint investigation into how a boric acid mining company that operated within protected zones of the Surire Salt Flat — a biodiversity hotspot in northern Chile — was being managed by Chile’s Environmental Superintendency.
Located in the Andes at over 4,200 meters above sea level, the Surire Salt Flat is a Natural Monument and part of the Lauca Biosphere Reserve. It serves as a critical breeding ground for three threatened flamingo species: the Andean, James’s, and Chilean flamingos.
A reporting team from Mongabay Latam and Ciper analyzed a trove of more than one million emails sent between top executives of the mining company. These emails — leaked by the Guacamaya hacker collective — spanned over a decade and revealed conversations discussing plans to relax environmental restrictions to enable mineral extraction in sensitive zones. These findings were cross-checked with official documents obtained through Chile’s transparency laws and supported by on-the-ground interviews with scientists, Indigenous leaders, and public officials.
The company in question denied all allegations, claiming Chile’s National Forest Corporation (Conaf), a state-owned, private nonprofit organization overseen by the Ministry of Agriculture, misinterpreted the law. However, the investigation found the company not only sought to reinterpret existing permits but also drafted a protocol that would have relaxed extraction limits. The protocol was never officially adopted, and Conaf later confirmed there was no legitimate agreement authorizing such changes.
