Ivanhoe Electric and SQM team up to find Chile’s next copper giants

Chile’s Atacama Desert still holds enormous copper potential, but much of it lies hidden beneath electrically resistive caliche, beyond the reach of conventional exploration tools. That’s exactly where a new collaboration between Ivanhoe Electric and Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile comes into play.

Collaboration agreement

The two companies have announced that they have entered a Typhoon™, driven exploration and collaboration agreement to search for large, new copper discoveries across 2,002 km² of prospective mining concessions in northern Chile.

Key details

At the heart of the partnership is Typhoon™, Ivanhoe Electric’s next-generation electrical geophysical surveying system. Designed to penetrate highly resistive surface cover like caliche, Typhoon™ delivers a high-power, ultra-clean signal capable of detecting sulfide mineralization at depths unreachable by traditional systems, paired with Computational Geosciences Inc.’s (CGI) advanced data inversion software. The collaboration launches with: at least $9 million in SQM-funded exploration over an initial three-year term, a joint technical committee guiding work programs and the ability for Ivanhoe Electric to form a 50/50 joint venture if a qualifying copper discovery (≥1 Mt contained Cu or Cu-equivalent) is identified

Synergy

Robert Friedland, Executive Chairman of Ivanhoe Electric stated: “We are proud to partner with SQM, one of Chile’s great mining champions, to deploy our disruptive Typhoon™ and CGI technologies across northern Chile, one of the world’s most prolific copper regions”.
He has added: “Vast areas of electrically resistive caliche conceal enormous geological potential beneath the surface. Our Typhoon™ and CGI platform is uniquely capable of seeing through that cover to illuminate what other technologies cannot.”

From an operational perspective, the partnership is structured to combine Ivanhoe Electric’s technology leadership with SQM’s scale, logistical strength, and deep regional expertise in caliche-covered terrains.

Taylor Melvin said: “SQM’s highly prospective mineral concessions and Ivanhoe Electric’s powerful exploration technologies are a perfect combination to search for large-scale copper discoveries in Chile. Working with SQM to deploy our Typhoon™ and CGI technologies in one of the world’s most important copper-producing regions underscores the confidence in our exploration platform.”

Solution of the future

For SQM, the collaboration opens access to copper potential beneath areas traditionally considered difficult or uneconomic to explore. “This Collaboration with Ivanhoe Electric provides SQM with the technology platform to allow the exploration of caliche-covered mining areas, which by their nature are tough to explore using traditional exploration methods,” said Pablo Altimiras, Chief Executive Officer of SQM’s Iodine & Plant Nutrition Division.
“We are confident that this synergy will allow us to unlock the immense potential of our mining concessions and accelerate the discovery of the critical minerals essential for the global energy transition.”

As global copper demand accelerates, driven by electrification, energy transition, and infrastructure, this partnership highlights a powerful message: the next generation of copper discoveries may not come from new terrain, but from seeing deeper into terrain we thought we already understood.