SQM Today N˚ 12 | JANUARY 2018
FIRST RESPONDERS They are among us, scattered throughout SQM’s facilities, and they breathe life into the Company’s Emergency and Rescue Brigades. They set aside extra time and effort to training and assisting with any disasters that occur on or near our facilities, making them key allies in the community. Here are some of their stories (p.8 and 9)
THE “LIGHTNING” CUBILLOS
M1 TURNS FOUR
SUNNY CHRISTMAS
Here we introduce you to the novice that was crowned champion of the Historical Speed Championship “FOUR B” 2017 in his Fiat 600 (p. 6)
Learn more about the Lean methodology developed within Soqui and the program’s main achievements (p. 12 and 13)
Check out some pictures from Santa’s visit to Soqui children at corporate Christmas celebrations (p. 14) HAVE FUN, PLAY AND WIN (p. 19)
01 Editorial
02 Facts and Figures
OUR NEW VISION AND VALUES
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By Patricio de Solminihac, Chief Executive Officer of SQM This mission and vision establish that we are a global company with a team of people committed to excellence. Our activities focus on the extraction of minerals, capable of being selectively integrated in the processing and commercialization of products for industries essential for human development. Then, our vision recognizes our high levels of competitiveness, excellence and innovation and establishes three values that form the foundation for our identity, as well as the work guidelines and daily actions of each worker: excellence, safety and integrity.
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IPSA Chile
2.6
SQM’s shares on Wall Street outperformed the daily average of all shares on Santiago Exchange’s IPSA index (US$124 million) by 2.6 times at their peak in 2017 (US$ 320 million).
Excellence, which challenges us each day to achieve increasingly better results; encourages us to be creative, agile and innovative; calls us to strengthen meritocracy, inclusion and diversity as paths to professional development and requires us to develop our work in a framework of sustainability and respect for the environment.
T
he year 2018 started out with good news. After four years of conflict, we are proud to report that we have signed an agreement with the Chilean Development Corporation (CORFO) to put an end to arbitration proceedings involving leased claims in Salar de Atacama related to our lithium and potassium operations. It is a good agreement for both parties. On one hand, we will incur important expenditures with large lease payments and investments in production capacity, as well as significant contributions to communities and regional research and development. The agreement also requires us to make changes to and fortify our corporate governance with very stringent auditing and internal control mechanisms. For SQM, the most important element of this agreement is that it allows us to increase our quotas for the production and sale of lithium and lithium derivatives produced from resources in Salar de Atacama until the year 2030, reaching 2.2 million tons of lithium carbonate equivalent during this period. This will translate into significant growth and an opportunity to consolidate our leadership in the global lithium market. This agreement also brings to a close a phase that has been difficult and, above all, meant considerable emotional and intellectual wear and tear for each SQM team member.
The value of safety, which makes caring for people a priority commitment that motivates us daily to strive for safe and accident-free operations. Finally, integrity, which calls us to carry out our daily work with high standards described in the corporate code of ethics. This value also implies being open and interested in implementing better ways of working to ensure and facilitate compliance with these standards as well as fulfilling commitments made to shareholders, customers, associates, regulators, communities, suppliers and authorities. In this spirit, we have made enormous progress in implementing our global compliance program. As CEO, I ask you to commit to these values, which, without a doubt, bring out the best of the SQM spirit. Since we began 2018 with such great news, I would like to express my thanks for the enormous support I have received during this entire time. Observing the commitment and capacity of each and every one of you doubtlessly helped us maintain a straight course when the winds were not in our favor. Personally, I could always sense it. Even the slightest gestures helped lift spirits to stay optimistic in the face of bad news. I am certain that now, under more favorable circumstances, our task is to tell the story of the real, valuable work done by this Company.
+ 36.000
followers on SQM’s LinkedIN page, representing a sustained increase and 100% growth in less than a year.
+ 50.000
training hours for SQM personnel in 2017.
The agreement will now enable us to focus on work and the many projects that we have in the pipeline, all framed within the newly defined mission, vision and values that we developed and defined in our Strategic Development Plan (SDP).
Communications and Public Affairs Manager: Carolina García Huidobro. Head of Corporate Communications: Álvaro Cifuentes. Head of External Communications: Tamara Rebolledo. Journalists: Carolina García Huidobro, Mauricio Olivares, Tamara Rebolledo, Álvaro Cifuentes, Mario Sánchez y Claudio Álvarez.
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Photography: Tamara Rebolledo, Álvaro Cifuentes, Mario Sánchez, Claudio Álvarez y Mauricio Olivares. Design:www.singular.cl Illustration: Daniela Vergara. Printing: Ograma S.A. Los Militares 4290, 1stfloor, Las Condes Phone: +56 2 24252000 | comunicaciones@sqm.com © All rights reserved.
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people working at SQM’s commercial office in Antwerp, Belgium, one of our products’ main ports of entry in Europe.
03 Briefs SALES FORCE MEETING IN MATANZAS Towards the end of 2017, the commercial department for iodine, lithium and industrial chemicals held its strategic meeting in Chile’s Sixth Region in the coastal town of Matanzas. The three-day event included recapping the past year, analyzing challenges and goals for 2018, reviewing corporate guidelines and forecasting markets to prepare for the coming year.
Development Plan (SDP). For years, this strategy has built an expansive, expert logistics chain with 25 commercial offices throughout the world that enable our products to reach over 117 countries on five continents.
This gathering has become a multicultural tradition, with representatives from the offices in China, Japan, Europe and North America. In addition to exchanging opinions on a wide variety of topics involved in these business lines and participating in a workshop on negotiating, the meeting in Matanzas was a valuable opportunity to strengthen relationships with colleagues from every continent.
WORLD IODINE CONFERENCE
RECOGNIZED FOR INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION At the end of each year, the Chilean financial newspaper Diario Financiero, prepares a ranking of business leaders and companies that have contributed substantially to the growth of their particular industry. In 2017, thanks to our strategy to continue strengthening our share of the lithium business, both in Chile and around the world, Soqui was honored in the international expansion category, together with Arauco and Cencosud. This award was earned thanks to important announcements about new lithium production projects in Argentina (Exar, Salar de Cauchari) and Australia (Mt Holland), in addition to production increases in lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide in Salar del Carmen (Antofagasta).
Pisa, the city famous for its leaning tower, welcomed iodine researchers and industry executives to share knowledge on iodine’s current contribution to health and human nutrition, as well as to discuss future industry challenges. As the world’s largest producer of this element, SQM sponsored the event and played an important part in academic debates on how to optimize iodine content for a healthy diet to prevent the so-called Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDD). SQM’s team has participated actively in research on the quality of agricultural developments; one of the most important is the recent work by Professor Cakmak: “Biofortification of Wheat, Rice and Corn with Iodine Using a Fertilization Strategy.” This research demonstrates for the first time that basic cereals can be agriculturally biofortified with iodine using foliar applications, and that potassium nitrate in foliar sprays not only improves yields and crop development but also the concentration of iodine in the grains.
This recognition consolidates SQM’s international expansion strategy, established in our Strategic
04 Overheard... “This is a high-yield expansion for SQM in the world’s main lithium asset, which is in Chile. It is a significant event for the global lithium industry and could create a degree of supply-side caution from the lithium market in the short term”. Deutsche Bank Markets Research,
regarding the CORFO-SQM agreement.
“The experience with Paulo has been great for SQM’s entire IT team. I have received feedback regarding learning sign language to be able to communicate with him and share our knowledge to help him in future jobs”.
Cristian Miranda,
IT Support Maintenance Technician, on the experience of working with Paulo González, an intern with SQM’s IT Support team who has severe hearing loss.
“The Corfo-SQM agreement is strategically important for the development of the country, the region and the signing parties. SQM is extremely valuable to Chile and, especially, the far north and the Antofagasta Region. This agreement strengthens the domestic and regional economy and, in turn, employment, income levels and quality of life in the community. As a result, we will consolidate our leadership and project ourselves strongly in global trends in lithium, solar power, hydrogen and green copper”.
Fernando Cortez,
CEO, Antofagasta Industrial Association (Asociación de Industriales Antofagasta), regarding the CORFO-SQM agreement.
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05 Innovasoqui
PEDRO’S CREATIVE FIBER By Claudio Álvarez Uribe
He shares a name with the plant that welcomed him and he has also put a lot of heart and mind into the Pedro de Valdivia plant, proposing and implementing a series of innovations designed to eliminate waste and reduce operating costs.
“El Negro”, as Pedro Ortiz is fondly called, knows the Pedro de Valdivia iodine plant like the back of his hand. He can identify every corner of the facility thanks to his first job as an errand boy for a contractor company in charge of cleaning the entire production facility. He entered Soqui in 1999 as an assistant mechanic; but over time he took on new jobs and challenges and began to venture into fiberglass production, which is utilized to cover the insides of pipelines and tanks used to transport and store solutions used in iodine production. This material is perfect for preventing iodine from corroding metal structures. Pedro gained experience handling and applying fiberglass; he earned the trust of his supervisors and, little by little, he took on engineering jobs and bigger challenges such as building pieces or special structures for different areas in the plant. In 2017, a defect at the plant leaked iodine solution from one of the tanks directly onto a cracked cement floor. Outsourcing the repair service for the drain was not an option because it would take close to a month. And time was of the essence. Ortiz analyzed the situation, the available resources and materials and said: “Boss, I have a solution. I am going to need sheets of plywood that we are no longer using (to stack iodine barrels on pallets). I will use them as a foundation and cover them with fiberglass instead of cement.” His supervisors believed in him, and he quickly got to work on his invention, although there were some doubts about the outcome. He anchored and joined the plywood sheets to the approximately four-square-meter surface and applied several layers of resin to affix the fiberglass cloth.
Pedro Órtiz, together with his boss José Espinoza, and a coworker at the historical iodine plant in Pedro de Valdivia.
On the weekend, with help from his boss, José Espinoza, they conducted hydraulic testing to confirm that there were no leaks. Both were clearly nervous. They poured on some of the solution... and it didn’t leak! Pedro’s invention had worked! First thing Monday morning, Mario Rojas, Production Manager, and Gabriel Munizaga, Superintendent of Iodine, were briefed of the news. Recognizing the value of the innovation, they immediately gave Pedro a new challenge: to build other slabs or drains. This innovation, although it may seem simple, had a very positive impact. Outsourcing drain construction costs upwards of Ch$ 2 million, while Pedro could do it faster and for only Ch$ 250 thousand. The spilled solution is contained and recovered using pumps. Each cubic meter of iodine recovered is equivalent to US$2,000. “Pedro is a key component of our team. He is the only worker that performs jobs like modifying equipment, manufacturing special parts and building slabs,” confirms José Espinoza, Supervisor of Mechanical Maintenance and Pedro’s boss, who bet all his chips on Pedro’s creativity and spirit to solve the problem. “Those tasks used to take us one to two months, but now we are done in one week.” Pedro’s energy and this innovation earned him a promotion. Up to now, he has built six drains of different sizes. “Pedro de Valdivia gave me the chance to develop myself; to give back, I will continue to work hard to contribute to my team and this dear plant,” affirms Pedro Ortiz, who already has 17 years under his belt at Soqui.
Pedro poses by his first project—the first drain constructed using plywood sheets and fiberglass.
Pedro Órtiz has been with Soqui for 17 years, during which time he has gotten to know 100% of his beloved Pedro de Valdivia plant.
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06 First Person
MINER FOR WORK ARTISAN FOR CALLING By Mauricio Olivares Pizarro
With 23 years at Soqui and four decades pursing his passion as a pumice stone artisan, Nelson Puentes Yañez was born in Santiago but is now a grateful resident of Toconao, the town where he discovered his craft and raised his family. Today he works tirelessly to help send his grandchildren to college, a dream he was unable to achieve. Nelson’s side as artisan, a passion that fills his artistic and northern soul.
Listening to Nelson is like going back in time, recreating images of a past that is difficult to understand today. It takes us back to the plant’s origins and, at the same time, explores the reason for his love of this craft, which he has been doing for 40 years in his workshop in Toconao. Ranchera music is his faithful companion in the lonely afternoons where the scorching sun is occasionally tamed by a desert breeze. He adjusts his bench before he begins and then starts to pass a chisel over a small house made of volcanic rock. “I live alone with my oldest son, Osman (28 years old); Martina, my wife, is in Calama with my daughter, Luz de los Ángeles, and my grandchildren, José Luis, Yoham and Escarlet Noemí,” Nelson explains. “The distance has not been easy, but it is for a greater good. All our efforts as a family are focused on giving my grandchildren a good education and the chance to achieve their goals.” Before he joined Soqui, the MOP H - SQM Salar Plant Operator was in charge of water supply in Toconao, until Waldo Rojas, the former superintendent in charge, visited him one day. “He asked me if I knew anyone that worked at the salt flat,” he recalls. On his first day, they left at 3 a.m. to go to what would later become the first plant (MOP HI). “At that time, none of what we see today existed, not even
the roads that connect the facilities with the towns, or the evaporation ponds,” he describes. The team’s first mission was to build the road that currently joins this plant and the present-day accommodation camp, Andino. “What I liked most was teaching and transferring my knowledge to new workers,” he recalls. “My role has always been valued by the Company; that makes me proud.” Night is falling in Toconao. From afar, the Lascar Volcano begins to lose that soft coppery-salmon color and take on a light purple hue with a hint of emerald. “Let me finish this statue and we’ll keep talking!” Nelson exclaims, as he puts the finishing touches on a small church carved of pumice stone. “My story with this stone began by accident, almost like how I met my wife,” he recalls, and then adds that he met his dear Martina hitchhiking on the road from Calama to Peine. Socaire was the first town that welcomed him in 1975, when he decided to leave the capital of Santiago to work at the El Laco mine, an iron deposit on the border with Argentina, 90 kilometers southeast of Socaire. However, given the conflicts at that time with Argentina, management decided to evacuate all of the workers that were living in the camp and transfer them to Toconao.
Once there, he shared a house with a young artisan, Catalino Tejerina. “I always watched Catalino, amazed at what he could make from a stone,” he explains. “I didn’t know anything about handicrafts, but I could draw well. When Catalino saw my sketches, he said to me: ‘Wow, you can really draw! Why don’t you try handicrafts?’. That inspired me and I began to carefully examine the material, imagining the cuts I would have to make, until I finished my first piece: An old woman with a llama.” Since then, Nelson has not stopped. He has been a part of Toconao’s culture and handicrafts for 40 years. “This passion has brought me a lot of recognition,” he affirms. “In the eighties, I was voted the best volcanic rock artisan in far northern Chile, and in 1991 I received an honorary title as a son of Toconao, which made me extremely happy.” “Life rewarded me with the chance to develop myself professionally in a major company like SQM, where I have met many people and formed friendships with my coworkers. Who would have thought that all these beautiful things were going to happen to me 42 years ago when I lived near Bus Stop 14 on Vicuña Mackenna Avenue in La Florida (Santiago)!” exclaims our featured artisan to wrap up his story.
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07 My Other Self
THE “LIGHTNING” CUBILLOS By Álvaro Cifuentes S.
Enrique Cubillos has been with Soqui for two years, but his passion for lug nuts spans a lifetime. Just like the famous animated film Cars, SQM’s Head of Training and Organizational Development could become the first novice to win the Historical Speed Championship “Four B”. Here we tell you how it came about... Everything was to be decided in a complicated race in Temuco, which put the skills of both drivers and their pit crews to the test for three and a half hours. Unlike other competitions, this race required drivers to switch off with another driver. “We only had to finish the race to win the cup since we had already performed really well that year,” comments Cubillos. But it was not easy since “Lightning” had to spend time in the pit during the second hour and everyone got nervous. “When the clock marked 93 minutes of race time, we learned that “Dixon” (his co-driver) was not with the rest of the cars,” recalls Enrique. “That’s when we realized that he was stopped in the pit entry area: the distributor had broken.” “We were lucky that it happened there because we were able to go get the car and repair it to keep racing,” explains Lightning, who began racing his Fiat 600 in 2005 in his native Vallenar, in the standard category. He quickly jumped to the promotional series, where he was crowned champion in 2013 and 2014, concluding his participation on the dirt tracks where he competed for over 10 years. In 2015, when he raced for the first time in the most competitive category (fuerza libre), he placed second. In 2016, he moved to Santiago to work for SQM and stopped racing for a year to get his car ready to compete in the Historical Speed Championship “Four B” in Santiago, which he began to race in 2017 in the demanding category “fuerza libre”. Enrique joined Soqui a few months before Pedro de Valdivia was closed. “This is a great company that enables you to grow and develop in many different
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areas,” he remarked. “And what has left the biggest impression on me has been the closure process for the plant; the Company’s concern for people was something I hadn’t seen before anywhere.” Enrique is father to six-year-old Rafael Alonso, easily “Lightning” Cubillos’s number one fan. His son accompanies him when he races and wears the team suit. He is following in the footsteps of his father, who sparked his interest in car racing at a very young age. “When I was young,” he recalls, “I would sit with him in the morning while everyone else was asleep and watch Ayrton Senna. I loved it. It was something that I got more and more interested in although my parents really didn’t approve.” Enrique returns to the story about that mythical race that earned him the title, which he was forced to watch from the pit during the last half hour because it was his co-drivers turn behind the wheel.
“It was very stressful. As he reached the end of the race, the championship title was getting closer and closer. When we were on the last lap, the instruction given to Dixon was to stop, to not push the car,” he recalls. When he crossed the finish line, we were ecstatic. “We won!” he shouted. “I say ‘we won’ because we are a team. I might be the driver and the one lifting the championship cup, but behind me are my dad and brother, who travel once a month to be with me; Alonso, who gives me strength; and Claudio Ibáñez and Carlos Ramírez, the team of mechanics that get the car ready. Everyone’s help and support is fundamental, especially when you’re having a bad day.” Unlike Lightning McQueen, who ultimately lost the race to help another competitor, Cubillos did cross the finish line. However, if he had found himself in a similar predicament, those that know him know what he would have done... a true champion.
08 Innovasoqui CONTINUOUS MINING, THE BEFORE AND AFTER OF CALICHE ORE MINING By Mario Sánchez
It is the most similar thing to an earthquake registering 4.5 on the Richter Scale because of how it shakes the ground, and its presence does not go unnoticed. But it also represents a deeper movement that could change caliche ore mining as we know it today. When someone asks what “continuous mining” is, all eyes focus on Marco Lema, Superintendent of Engineering and Geology, who is leading this project within the Mining Production Division. He kindly made time for us to explain something that seems simple in writing but in practice is much more complex. Like an iron mammoth, with over 185 tons that are resisting extinction and, much to the contrary, are looking to forge their way in the future of mining, one can see it cutting the hard crust of caliche ore forming a bed of small rock, ready to be deposited in the piles. The Vermeen T1655 tractor and Continuous Mining are one in the same, and a bet that has everyone waiting anxiously. For more than a century, rock has been removed with explosives, which involves some risks related to storing, transporting and handling the explosives. With this bet, the company is looking to revolutionize caliche ore mining—from where nitrate and iodine are obtained— to make operations safer, cleaner and more efficient.
The Vermeen T1655 tractor and Continuous Mining are one and the same. The bet for safer mining without explosives rests on them.
Today, continuous mining faces a major challenge...despite good production results, costs have exceeded projections because it has consumed more cut steel; in all, 129 teeth are in charge of breaking the hard caliche ore crust and suffer considerable wear and tear. Therefore, an element that Soqui is known for has once again become key: self-innovation. “We have already gone through the learning phase. Now comes the continuous improvement phase,” Marco Lema reflects in light of the predicament faced today by the iron mammoth: how to improve and put an end to the risks related to using explosives , giving new energy to the Pampa epic in northern Chile.
“Do you see the difference between the cake on this side and the another one?” Marco Lema asks, pointing towards one of the many piles scattered throughout this desert cloak that gives life to Nueva Victoria. There was a clear difference: the pile built with the continuous mining process seems to be made of sand, thanks to the prior crushing process, while the other one has less uniform granulometry. That is the key element in the principle behind this innovation: improving the kinetics of leaching so that solutions are drained at higher concentrations and in less time: this is expected to increase the pile’s yield as compared to other conventional treatments. Although three piles have already been built using continuous mining, pile 356 is the first to provide valuable and important information for evaluating the project now that the Company has leased the equipment needed to measure and validate the impact of the crushed material on leaching. The pile’s first results are promising.
The Vermeen T1655 tractor and Continuous Mining are one and the same. The bet for safer mining without explosives rests on them.
The operations team is constantly reviewing the work areas before bringing in the iron mammoth.
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09 Cover Story
FIRST RESPONDERS By Mauricio Olivares Pizarro
They are among us, scattered throughout SQM’s facilities, and they breathe life into the Company’s Emergency and Rescue Brigades. They set aside extra time and effort to training and assisting with any disasters that occur on or near our facilities, making them key allies in the community. Here are some of their stories.
He does not recall the year or his age. He does remember that it was at a religious festival in Toconao, but he doesn’t remember which. However, up to now, he feels the same sensation he had then, when he was just a boy accompanying his father and they acted when no one else would. “It was a special moment that marked me forever,” explains Lucas Mondaca, founding member of the Southern Rescue Brigade at Salar de Atacama. “I had no knowledge but I did have the intuition to know what to do and how to approach the problem. Thank goodness we were able to control and put out the fire that had started.” This experience left an impression on him, but it would not be the only time. After that, as a teenager, he rescued a person from a ravine and saved two friends from drowning. Fifteen years ago, this father of three and die-hard Toconao native, decided to join the team that was being put together in Salar de Atacama. At first it was hard, but thanks to support from the Offices of the Vice President and Superintendent
First row (standing): Juan Lazo, Lucas Mondaca, Oscar Castro, Solange Arroyo, José Gaete, Gene Diaz; second row (kneeling): Manuel Farías, Francisco Gutiérrez, Jaime Pizarro and Mauricio Sepúlveda, all members of the Southern Rescue Brigade at Salar de Atacama.
of Risk Management and Production Management, the brigade improved and became more professional: they attended workshops and training camp, facilities were built and new equipment purchased. Today, this brigade has over 100 volunteers. “It is very gratifying to contribute my own grain of sand to care for my coworkers. To me, it feels like my life’s mission,” affirms Lucas.
The “Wonder Woman” from Tocopilla Yorka Biongorno always wanted to belong to the Tocopilla brigade. Attaining this goal required great determination, including changing habits and a strict diet to lose 50 kilos and be able to join the team. “I always wanted to learn about this and join a team to respond in the event of an emergency, but first I had to get myself ready to make a real contribution. Today, I feel more prepared, even though I still have a lot to learn,” comments Yorka, who works as a packaging operator in Tocopilla and is a brigade member at the port. Yorka is a special woman. She has lots of energy and time to spend on many tasks. She is the group’s only female member, but she also participates as the secretary of the Joint Committee on Hygiene and Safety in Tocopilla. This mother of four children also manages, together with her partner, a promising small business that sells sushi. She is usually the first to arrive at training sessions, even on her days off, and, among other anecdotes, she has a recording of her first emergency call. “The alarm for the fire at the port was broadcast on the brigade’s group chat. I immediately grabbed my boots and helmet, left my house and took the first tax to the port.” “The trip seemed to take an eternity; I was nervous and could feel the adrenaline in my body; but controlling that is key,” she explains. “I arrived and was ready to help. Soon I heard a very soft whimper in the distance; as I walked towards where the sound had come from, my fellow responders controlled the fire. When I got close enough, I saw it and my chest tightened; a small puppy was hidden in a box. I picked it up and felt his heart racing. I hugged and petted him until he calmed down,” she recalls. Helping others is her calling. And she has taken it so seriously that she tells us her big news: “My next challenge is to become a member of the Third Fire Company of Tocopilla”.
Claudio Tapia and Yorka Bogiorno.
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11 Portada The Pampa Fireman At just 10 years old, Claudio Tapia had already taken his first steps as a rescuer, helping control the fires that started near his house. At 15, he began training as a “knight of fire”, and after that came many years of training and further education to earn his seat on the board of the Fourth Company of Tocopilla, in his role as treasurer. Claudio Tapia was a fireman in Tocopilla for 28 years until, 16 years ago, he packed his bags and left for María Elena to work for Soqui. Since then, he has been part of SQM’s Pampa Brigade (María Elena, Coya Sur and Pedro de Valdivia). In charge of SQM Pampa Emergencies, Claudio is responsible for the training sessions that each member must attend every month on topics such as hot work, extinguishing fires, confined space rescue, first aid, etc. “The SQM Pampa Brigade dates back to 1985, with stations in Pedro de Valdivia and María Elena; it all began with the Pedro de Valdivia Fire Department—in charge of the camp—that existed in the early eighties,” he explains. Claudio is one of the most senior rescuers and feels privileged to be able to do something he is passionate about. “I joined the organization as a driver. There were 22 volunteers between Pedro de Valdivia and María Elena; Coya Sur was a small facility. As Coya began to grow and play a larger role in the Company, we increased the team’s numbers and improved our skills.” Currently, the SQM Pampa Brigade has around 20 firefighters per shift and works “hand-in-hand” with the María Elena Fire Department, providing ongoing support with car accidents on the main local roads or when a disaster exceeds their response capacity.
A Neighbor’s Best Friend Juan Toloza, a resident of Alto Hospicio, has some credit saved up for when he arrives at St. Peter’s Gates: A while back, he had the chance to save his neighbor’s life. “Rescuing and giving someone their life back is a very powerful experience that makes you feel good but it also breaks you inside,” confesses this operator of high-tonnage mining equipment. His neighbor could have choked to death, but thanks to the instructions received in the Nueva Victoria salvage unit, Juan was able to act fast and save his life.
The emergency brigades are prepared to act in the event of a fire. In the picture, a disaster drill exercise.
he confessed to us. “One does not do this for recognition, but because he wants to help; we are a pack and we must all look out for one another,” he added. Juan comments that since 2008 the Nueva Victoria Emergency Brigade began working on becoming more professional, purchasing new equipment and substantially improving training. “One of the most important functions that we fulfill at this facility is to act in the event of chemical disasters. We hope to never have to use those skills, but we have the equipment and knowledge necessary to react efficiently.” To face risky situations at the plants or at any other location near SQM’s facilities, the Nueva Victoria brigade boasts 37 members, two stations and two firetrucks. In all, there are more than 300 first responders distributed throughout the company’s facilities, silent heroes with a great spirit of solidarity and love for their fellow man. While most try to escape from an emergency, they rush to take charge. This serves as a small recognition to all Soqui brigade members, represented by these four individuals, for their brave and honorable work: taking care of those in need.
“Everything happened so fast. I almost acted by inertia. I naturally applied what I had learned as if I did it all the time. They were the longest seconds of my life, but when my neighbor recovered, I was overtaken with an enormous sense of peace,”
(From left to right) Carlos Cano, Luis Rivera, Juan Toloza, Emiliano Malebrán and Arturo Pérez from the Nueva Victoria Rescue Brigade.
Brigades training to be prepared and always ready. In the image, a brigade member is observed during a rescue at height.
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10 At Work KELLY’S ROUTE By Carolina García Huidobro L
In the Office of the Corporate Finance Senior VP, Kelly O’Brien leads relations with Soqui’s multiple investors in Chile and abroad. This “gringa” came to Chile six years ago, which is the same amount of time that she has been at SQM explaining the fundamentals of each business line. Her meeting schedule in Santiago and throughout the world’s most important capitals, demonstrates our Company’s growing value in investment decisions.
By far, SQM is one of the Chilean companies with the largest global presence and that piques the most interest from investors. Currently, our Company’s stock is one of the most traded Chilean stocks on Wall Street. It is no accident that the Investor Relations Area is led by Kelly O’Brien, an American originally from Rochester, NY, or that her right-hand woman is Irina Axenova, a Russian woman with perfect English. Or that the two of them and their boss, Gerardo Illanes-Corporate Finance Senior VP, conduct all their meetings in English. Investor Relations must explain the fundamentals of SQM’s business to the market so that it correctly values our Company. The area is also in charge of managing relations with small, large and potential investments and is responsible for assuring regulators in Chile and the U.S. that the Company is complying with all regulations imposed by these regulatory entities. Kelly grew up in Scottsville, a small American town near the Canadian border with a population of two thousand, but at age 18 she moved to the big city. Her first stop was New York, where she studied art history and business at Fordham, a Jesuit university located in the legendary borough of the Bronx. Four years later, she decided to cross the globe to live in China. “At a restaurant in the Bronx,” she recalls, “I met a person that was looking for English teachers in China... two weeks later I had been hired by Beijing University and was on my way.” After her time in Asia, Kelly landed in Boston to take a position as a project manager for a natural gas plant being installed. Once the project was approved, she decided to return to school and do an MBA at Boston University, a decision that would change her personal and professional path: “There I met Pato, my Chilean husband, and the reason why I now live in Chile,” she recalls. She also points out that this change was “more difficult than going to China.” To adapt, she had to learn Spanish quickly. At the institute where she was studying, she met another gringa that was working in Investor Relations at SQM at the time and was about to leave to go to another country. She opened the door for Kelly’s arrival to Soqui: after a series of interviews, she passed the tests and began working on October 4, 2011. “I have the best memories of all the people who so generously helped me during that orientation phase, when I barely spoke Spanish,” she said.
Kelly speaking at SQM’s Investor Day in New York.
But, she had plenty of other qualities and capabilities to represent SQM before investors: some experience and knowledge of the financial world, a passion for learning, a restless and globe-trotting soul and, above all, a pleasant demeanor and good sense of humor. The area has adapted to changes in the market and at Soqui; today, for example, they work directly with the corporate governance committee, which did not exist before. “When I started, iodine was the most important product, followed by potassium and then specialty fertilizers,” she explains. “Lithium accounted for only 9% of earnings. Now, 90% of our meetings are to talk about lithium.” Her meeting schedule today is much more intense and extensive. In 2017 alone, she calculates that around 500 meetings were held with investors and analysts in Chile and abroad. Geographically speaking, up to a decade ago, relations with international investors were concentrated in the New York Stock Exchange; however, London and Asia have more recently gained growing importance in her schedule. Many things have changed in her time at Soqui: her Spanish still has a strong American accent but her vocabulary and Chilean slang flow easily; she is about to give birth to her first child and she is not only familiar with every one of SQM’s facilities and production processes but she also manages in detail their numbers and reasons to invest. She is brimming with energy, which she surely gets from her after-office running and swimming routine. “I like to run and swim to clear my mind,” explains this ‘gringa’ with more than 100 races under her belt, the longest of which was the Chicago Marathon (42k)-, and several half marathons (21k), as well as the Santiago Marathon in 201.
In the middle, Kelly, together with Irina, on one of many investor trips to the Salar de Atacama.
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SQM today
11 My name is...
FIDEL CASTRO By Claudio Álvarez Uribe
At the age of 11, he stood in front of him. His height (1.91 m) and character made an impression, motivating him to follow every one of his steps through an excited María Elena, the nitrates town included in the tour of Chile in 1971 made by the former president of Cuba, Fidel Castro. His innocence prevented him from realizing the significance of the leader of the Cuban revolution. Neither did he understand why so many local residents had come out to welcome him. He only knew that they shared the same name and that this figure would remain in the town’s collective memory because of his charisma and his basketball skills, which he showed off in an improvised demonstration in his traditional military uniform and beret. Digging through his memories, Fidel Castro Campos, warehouse manager at María Elena for 37 years, cannot come up with the origin of his name. His father attributes it to his older children, but they never took responsibility for it. He thinks the reason has nothing to do with politics, although he is aware that his parents did express some admiration for this historical figure. In fact, there are two indirectly related episodes: Fidel Castro burst onto the Cuban political scene as Prime Minister on February 27,
1959, and he was born just two months later in María Elena. His name has graced him with more than one anecdote. At the age of 13, he represented María Elena at the northern interregional swimming competition in Antofagasta. The swimming association was in charge of securing housing for all competitors. Fidel arrived at the home of a municipal councilman, who was traveling in Argentina at the time. The local newspaper, El Mercurio de Antofagasta, was in charge of covering the sporting event and, surprised that a child named Fidel Castro was competing, the newspaper published an article entitled: “Fidel Castro Visits Home of Local Councilman.” “While I slept, the councilman entered my room along with his wife,” recalls the “Fidel from María Elena”. She laughed and said: ‘There’s Fidel Castro’, and he, confused, said hello and then left. The next day, during breakfast, he explained that he had returned to Chile because he saw the news in the press that Castro had visited his house. His disappointment was evident, and his wife could not stop laughing,” he tells, while he also remembers how he won the 100-meter freestyle race at that tournament.
Another source of amusement is “Che Garufa”, a well-known, local figure that washes cars near the main square, who yells out a joke every time Fidel passes by: “Look who it is. I thought you were dead! No, you were just out on the town,” inciting loud laughs from passersby. At doctors’ appointments, he enjoys seeing the reactions and expressions from the rest of the waiting room when they call his name and he has even had some “incidents” with suppliers or subcontractors that think he is trying to play a trick on them. “When I say: ‘Hi, I’m Fidel Castro,’ they don’t believe me and sometimes I have even had to show them my ID.” At SQM, there is another Fidel Castro, who works as a technical works inspector in Nueva Victoria. They became friends over the phone after receiving each other’s emails when customers from their respective areas could not identify who was who. “We had the chance to meet at a soccer game we organized in María Elena. We introduced ourselves and got along well. We told jokes and were teased by our other teammates,” recalls Fidel from the Pamp.
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12 M1 M1, 4 YEARS OF A HISTORY OF CHANGE By Álvaro Cifuentes S.
In November 2017, the Lean methodology celebrated four years since its arrival at Soqui, during which time different areas have gradually joined a process that arose in response to uncertainty in some markets, an increasingly competitive environment and a rise in operating costs. We had to change the way things were done in order to maintain our leadership position...we had to be the best.
There is no area within SQM that has not at least heard of M1 and is not familiar with some of its practices. It is estimated that the Lean methodology has been implemented by at least 80% of the company. Coya Sur, Salar de Atacama, Nueva Victoria, Tocopilla and Carbonate, one by one, all donned orange to provide tools to different teams of people so that the workers themselves could take on the challenge of achieving better indicators in productivity, safety and costs.
Common Goals, Efficient Processes, Continuous Improvement and People Development are the four pillars that form the foundation for this methodology, and have attained many achievements and results. The philosophy centers around the workers themselves, which is key to eliminating waste and improving process efficiency, resolving problems and proposing new ways of doing things. Here, we present some of the story and big numbers behind this successful process at Soqui, which today has positioned us as a model in Lean methodology in the mining industry.
2014
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Jun.
MOPHII & SOPH Operations and Maintenance (Salar de Atacama)
Sep.
Operations Management; NPT3 Plant, Operations, Maintenance (Coya Sur)
Nov. “... the M1 tools have enabled us to consolidate our work, increase supply in order to cover the huge operating demand in the Salar Production Department and be more efficient while seeking results, always hand-in-hand with prevention.” Mauricio Acuña, Supervisor of Contracts and Inventory.
Atmosférica (Coya sur)
Logistics Department; Ground Transportation, Port of Tocopilla (Salar de Atacama, Tocopilla)
Dec.
Nov.
2013
Procurement Department, María Elena Warehouse (Maria Elena)
“... We managed to take the best of each of us and generated a standard that is used by everyone in the same way.” Pablo Palavecino, Plant Manager, Salar del Carmen.
“We took on a leading role. Now all coworkers know how we are going to work.” Claudia Alfaro, Plant Operator, Coya Sur.
“Ideas for improvements are contributed in order to achieve a common goal for all. It has significantly strengthened team work”. John Villablanca, Lead Operator, Coya Sur.
“We are all responsible for the results obtained, both in production and safety. Because we make the changes, here we are one big family.” Helberth Zavalaga, Mechanical Foreman, Lithium.
SQM today
12 M1 M1 in numbers Inventory Reduction;
Cost Reduction;
Increased Yield
35% lithium carbonate plant (from 5,454 to 3,509 tons)
22% at NPT2 plant
9% in MOP I - Li evaporation ponds 2% at MOP H plants 4% in generation of Li solutions
4% at MOP H plants
72% lithium hydroxide plant (from 1,596 to 438 tons)
4% in mine production
Reduction in Accident Frequency Rate;
Reduction in Electricity Consumption;
Production Increase;
From 16 to 0 (Dec 2015 to Dec 2017) in Salar del Carmen
11% at atmospheric plant
66% at NPT3 plant
19% at NPT2 plant
61% at NPT2 plant
15% at NPT3 plant
40% at atmospheric plant
7% in Office of Potassium and Lithium Operations Senior VP
25% at Nueva Victoria iodine plant
Implementation of 5S Tool; Increase of 50% in productivity at CI&RS operations, which generated savings in mine production costs.
Reduction in Thermal Energy* Consumption;
35% lithium carbonate plant (from 2,733 to 3,699 tons/month)
35% at NPT2 plant
28% lithium hydroxide plant (from 372 to 475 tons/month)
17% at Nueva Victoria iodine plant
7% at mine (Generation of Li solutions)
7% at NPT3 plant * *The less thermal energy is consumed, the less environmental emissions per ton of product.
Drying Plant, Distribution and Services (Coya Sur)
Jan. Mar.
Superintendent of Potassium-Lithium Risk Management (Salar de Atacama)
May
Coya Sur Laboratory (Coya Sur)
Quality and Regulatory Affairs Department - Port Quality (Tocopilla)
Technical Department, Research and Development (Coya Sur, Antofagasta, Nueva Victoria, Santiago)
June
Packaging and Shipping, Superintendent of PotassiumLithium Risk Management (Salar de Atacama)
Mining Production Department, Mine (Nueva Victoria)
SQMC (Santiago) Laboratory (Salar de Atacama)
SQMC (San Antonio)
Commercial Offices (Atlanta) Payroll Department (Santiago)
Commercial Offices (Barcelona)
July
Apr. Aug.
Lithium Hydroxide Plant, Operations and Maintenance (Salar del Carmen)
Metal Exploration Department (Antofagasta) Project Department (Coya Sur, Nueva Victoria, Santiago) Metal Laboratory, Chemical Laboratory (Salar de Atacama) Potassium-Lithium Procurement (Santiago, Salar del Carmen) People Department (Localidades) IT Departments (Santiago y Localidades)
Mine Maintenance, Hydrogeology, CIRS, Mine, Harvest and Machinery (Salar del Carmen)
Oct.
NV Production Department; Leaching, Sur Viejo Evaporation Ponds (Nueva Victoria)
Evaporation Pond Operations (Salar de Atacama)
2017
Caliche Ore-Iodine Laboratory (Antofagasta)
Pampa Risk Management (Coya Sur) Procurement Department, Contracts (Coya Sur, Santiago, Antofagasta)
2016
Oct.
Operations Management; Prilling Plant, Operations, Maintenance, Inventory and Machinery (Coya Sur)
June
Lithium Carbonate Plant, Operations and Maintenance (Salar del Carmen)
Oct.
July
NV Risk Management (Nueva Victoria)
July
NV Production Department; Iodine Plant, Operations, Maintenance (Nueva Victoria)
Mar.
MOPHI & MOPGIII Operations and Maintenance (Salar de Atacama)
Procurement Department, Iris Warehouse (Nueva Victoria)
Nov.
Jan.
Operations Management; NPT2, Evaporation Ponds (Coya Sur)
Sep.
May
Mar.
Jan.
2015
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Compensation and Organizational Development Department, Controller’s Office (Santiago) Procurement Department, Mine Warehouse (Nueva Victoria) january 2018
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13 In Focus CHRISTMAS WARMTH Games, swimming, beach time, kayaking, karaoke, trampolines, bouncy castles, superheroes, bingo and an endless number of surprises livened up the afternoon filled with laughing and cheer where SQM’s children played a leading role. Arica, Iquique, Tocopilla, María Elena, San Pedro de Atacama, Antofagasta, La Serena and Santiago were the epicenters where more than five thousand members of the Soqui family, both parents and children, celebrated with Santa Claus and lots of surprises. Characters from the Avengers, Stars Wars, Mickey Mouse, Masha and the Bear and many others arrived to entertain the children with balloons, candy and fun. But, there were also things for the “bigger kids”, including massages, contests, manicures and other treats for the parents.
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SQM today
13 In Focus AT WORK, EVERYTHING HAPPENS...
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It is normal for workers from María Elena, Pedro de Valdivia, Nueva Victoria, Salar de Atacama, Tocopilla, Salar del Carmen and Coya Sur to end their shift, hang up their helmets and take off their boots to engage in recreational activities, the arts and sports. Here we present some excellent snapshots from 2017 that show the great talent within Soqui.
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1. The soccer team from María Elena that won the national championship in the All Competitor category. 2. The “Inter Mitente” team won the “big eared” cup from the first Pampa soccer tournament. 3. Juan López and his wife were named national “cueca” (Chilean national dance) champions in 2017. They are a source of pride for María Elena residents. 4. The bike path inaugurated at the Andino camp in Salar de Atacama welcomes motivated cyclists that are looking to stay fit in this beautiful scenery. 5. Hundreds of María Elena residents participated in the first version of “Fitness Night.” 6. Over 70 low-income boys and girls benefit from the soccer schools in Antofagasta organized by the SQM Salar Sports Club, and supported by the Office of the Potassium and Lithium Operations Senior VP. 7
7. The active plaza in Salar de Atacama is a space designed for relaxation and recreation.
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14 Big Numbers
COYA IS HAPPY WITH FOUR By Claudio Álvarez Uribe
Operators and maintenance staff from the NPT2, NPT3 and Drying Plants and the Atmospheric and Evaporation Pond Circuit, with support from collaborating areas, achieved four historical production peaks for potassium nitrate during 2017, which consolidated the M1 continuous improvement process currently underway at these facilities.
Heir to the nitrates age, Coya Sur is currently playing a leading role in reinventing this industry after innovating in the production of potassium nitrate in the mid-eighties. Today KNO3 is one of Soqui’s star products, positioning it as the global leader in the specialty fertilizer market. With four decades in operation, 2017 was one of the best years for Coya Sur and will be recorded in its production memoirs as a chapter written by its own workers, who managed to achieve four production records. For this reason, Carlos Díaz, Nitrate and Iodine Operations Senior VP, and Cristian Pizarro, Coya Sur Operations Manager, led the “I Live M1” recognition ceremonies, where they honored operators from the four plants and members of the support areas that made this production milestone possible. At the ceremonies, they also showed a video of Patricio de Solminihac thanking and congratulating all of the workers.
The NPT3 plant achieved 366,980 tons per year, standing out for starting to conduct on-site performance dialogues (N5), with participation from the operations, maintenance and prevention areas and connecting operators with the KPIs for their daily performance; the Atmospheric Circuit achieved 436,641 tons, standing out for the performance of the teams at the crystallization, PTS and dual potassium chloride plants, as well as the evaporation ponds, who improved raw material management and attained more solution from the ponds. The drying plant also did well, surprising everyone this year with 587,025 tons, achieved through timely planning of maintenance and standardization of product shipments and dryer operations; meanwhile, the NPT2 plant made a name for itself with 273,000 tons for the year thanks to the connection with NPT1 and the creation of a SOP for solar sodium salts.
One of the team’s shifts is recognized by Carlos Díaz, Nitrate and Iodine Operations Senior VP, and Cristian Pizarro, Coya Sur Operations Manager.
All these records were met while maintaining a goal of zero lost-time accidents and would not have been possible without the commitment of all workers and support from collaborating areas (maintenance, processes, technical management, Nueva Victoria operations, inventory and machinery, ground transportation and risk prevention); this joint effort enabled the facility to consolidate its continuous improvement. Juan Carlos Órdenes, Superintendent of Operations at Coya Sur and director of this huge orchestra, explains that the records did not surprise him. He knew his people possessed the knowledge and potential and M1 gave them the tools to all work towards a common goal. Today, our customers demand increasingly higher standards. The market challenges us more and more every day and we are meeting these challenges by attaining annual production records at low cost and very good accident rates.
The Atmospheric Circuit achieved 436,641 tons per year; the picture features the dual potassium chloride plant.
The NPT3 plant achieved 366,980 tons per year, with several consecutive records obtained throughout 2017.
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SQM today
15 In Community
Volunteer Program The company-technical school linkage program, led by the departments of sustainability, people and communications at SQM, is part of the Company’s community engagement initiatives to support education and culture in areas near our operations, which generates synergies among schools, the Company and employees that serve as volunteers to implement the plan.
FOR A BETTER EDUCATION SQM and several technical schools in northern Chile work together on a program that includes technical advising on curriculum, motivational and technical talks, site visits and professional internships.
most powerful tool for changing someone’s fate, a formula for building bridges that traverse social conditions and a great path for creating opportunities in life. Under this concept, Soqui founded the companytechnical school linkage program with the schools Óscar Bonilla, in Antofagasta; Diego Portales Palazuelos, in Tocopilla; Técnico Humanista, in
María Elena; Don Bosco, in Antofagasta and Calama; and Alcalde Sergio González Gutiérrez, in Pozo Almonte. The program includes, among other elements, technical advising on curriculum, motivational and technical talks, site visits and professional internships
In this context, and given the importance of the employees that will implement this initiative, a volunteer program will be launched this year entitled ‘Lend a Hand to Your Community’. This program will be developed throughout Chile and will provide assistance to neighbors in three ares: Education, Social Support and Recovering Heritage.
To commemorate the program’s first year, a ceremony was led by our CEO, Patricio de Solminihac; the Mayor of María Elena, Omar Norambuena, and José Miguel Berguño, People and Performance Senior VP. “This educational program that we are promoting in neighboring towns is very important because we are bringing future professionals and talent closer to our company, which welcomes their contribution, energy, talent, creativity and innovation.”
SQM’s educational program includes visits to its facilities and professional internships.
16 Northern Memory Alejandro González González
TOCONAO “TREASURE” This photograph, taken in the early nineties, is of Alejandro González González (left) and his son-in-law, Omar Mondaca Gavia, the foreman of the drain area at SQM Salar, getting ready for the carnival festivities in Toconao. Alejandro—or Don Alejo as he is known—is the patriarch of the Mondaca González family, which also includes his daughter, Miriam González Mamani, and his grandchildren, Carolina (23) and Omar (12), together with his greatgranddaughter, Rafaela, who is 15 months old. The historical richness of this story centers around Alejandro, who in 2011 was honored by Unesco as a “Living Human Treasure”, due to his career as a musician and artisan and his ongoing support for local arts and culture. Omar is proud of his father-in-law: “Throughout his 84 years, he has fought to restore the Atacama memory and preserve the traditions of our people,” he explains. “Through his compositions, the chords born from his accordion, and the sculptures he makes in pumice stone, he continues to spread the roots of our Licanantay culture.” However, his greatest legacy is the “Rueda de Pije”, a traditional northern carnival that he has organized for 58 years, participating actively as its main host. At this ancestral festival—named in honor of his father—he opens his house to the town and, together with his entire family, they sing and dance to honor Patta Hori, “Mother Earth” in the Kunza language.
“Don Alejo’s carnival is one of the oldest and most well known in Toconao,” explains Mondaca. “It begins 40 days before Holy Week and lasts close to a week. At these celebrations, each member of our family joins the ritual to thank our Mother Earth for the planting season, water and life.”.
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17 The Use of...
MgCl2+6H2O Bischofite
FRIEND OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND SAFETY Dust was synonymous with dirt roads; we say “was” because today bischofite is earning more and more space in the market to stabilize roads of this type, preventing deterioration, eliminating particulate matter and optimizing water use. What is bischofite? It is magnesium chloride hexahydrate, a byproduct obtained from the lithium carbonate production chain that, thanks to its properties, takes humidity from the air when it is over 32% and is capable of changing from a crystalline to liquid state. This crystallized element can regenerate its capacity, reabsorbing humidity at night and releasing it slowly during the day. If an industrial road that needs to be sprayed with water every day to avoid dust is instead sprayed with bischofite, it will always remain damp, thus preventing pollution; and its evaporation rate will be three times less than that of water. Can you imagine the water savings? Today in Chile, 10 million m2 of dirt roads are sprayed with bischofite, which means that a road for high-ton trucks for mining operations that must be sprayed with water every two hours, only needs to be sprayed once a week with bischofite; roads for pick-up trucks can last months. In figures, the water savings on mining roads is over 95%, and on public roads it is close to 99%.
Chile is by far the country that most uses bischofite for stabilization. The Chilean Highway Bureau of the Ministry of Public Works is the largest consumer. Today, more than 5,000 kms of roads are stabilized with bischofite, which represents more than 7% of the national road network and, if placed end on end, would stretch from Arica to Punta Arenas. Its use is increasing in scale, for both the water savings and the dust control and road conservation properties.
Another use, which is not that well known today in Chile (although it is used on some southern sections of Route 5 when ice is forecasted) but is used often in the United States and other northern countries, is as antifreeze for roads. It works by generating heat as it absorbs humidity and converts it into water. The resulting saline solution has a lower freezing temperature and thus prevents ice from forming and eliminates the risk of ice-related accidents.
IT’S EASY TO WIN! SQM Today Edition No. 11 gave us new winners in the Search and Win contest. The children’s faces lit up with smiles and looks of surprise when they received their jerseys and sets of Alex paints. It’s easy to win. Locate the Search & Win section on page 19; complete the word search, cut it out and place it in the special boxes in the communications and/or HR offices at each work site.
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The winners of the previous edition were:
Faena
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Ganador
Trabajador
Foto
Nueva Victoria
Mateo Quiñones
Tocopilla
Francesco Barahona Bernardo Barahona
Coya Sur
Syndey Bonilla
José Bonilla
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Salar de Atacama
Joaquín Iriarte
Mario Iriarte
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Salar del Carmen
Cristóbal Olivares
Camila Cerda
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Antofagasta
Enzo Iturrieta
Carolina Liquitay
Santiago
Belén Novoa
Víctor Nova
SQM today
Francisco Quiñones
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Don’t miss your chance! Participate and win a Chilean national team jersey or a set of Alex paints.
18 Fun for Kids
ATTENTION!
Remember that each facility will award one prize per edition, so you have more chances to win. Don’t miss your chance... PARTICIPATE! Children’s Contest
WORD SEARCH...
1. What is the name of the person featured in the story “My name is...”? 2. What product helps prevent roads from freezing? 3. Who are the first responders? 4. What was the nickname given to the Head of Training and Organizational Development? 5. What stone does Nelson Puente work with? 6. What is the last name of the worker in the piece “Innovasoqui”? 7. How many years old is the M1 program?
Children under 14 years of age may participate. Find the nine answers in the word search and submit it along with your information by Friday, March 23rd at your site’s Human Resources Office. You could win a Chilean national team jersey or a set of Alex paints.
cut here and delivery...
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L Y O L E B I B C I F J P A D L D A R G
F R R C C T M D J F B A M Q O B L I H A
Contestant’s Full Name
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O H S S Ñ A I N U U F P N T X L T G K A
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This image of schoolchildren participating in environmental education classes was taken at the CEDAM facilities (Center for Environmental Education Studies) built by SQM and CONAF in 2013, as part of the Tamarugo Tree Environmental Management Plan. Along with promoting sustainable development, environmental education and adding value to the cultural and natural heritage of the Tarapacรก Region, each year this project welcomes Chilean and foreign tourists, foundations, community organizations and student groups from different grade levels.