ASX- and TSX-V-listed Hot Chili has submitted a second maritime concession application to facilitate a potential multi-user water network for the Huasco Valley area of the southern Atacama region of Chile.

The concession application also includes brine discharge for potential seawater desalination operations on the Huasco coastline so that both raw seawater and desalinated water can be provided by a potential water network.

In addition, Hot Chili has announced plans to establish a standalone water company, which could potentially generate significant value for shareholders.

Hot Chili holds a unique position in the region, possessing a current granted maritime water concession for extraction, a current maritime application for extraction and desalinated discharge, along with essential permits to provide desalinated water supply to the Huasco Valley, following over a decade of permitting advance for the company’s coastal range, Costa Fuego copper/gold project.

While Costa Fuego’s mine development plan considers the use of raw seawater for future processing, Hot Chili’s recently announced water supply concept study confirmed the potential to also develop a large, multi-user, desalinated water supply business in the Huasco valley area.

The firm notes that a water supply business case study is under way, and that it has been engaging with potential desalination water customers, potential infrastructure partners and Chilean government regulators since February.

The second maritime concession application is a key next step to developing a potential desalinated water business to supply community, agricultural and new mining demand of up to 3 700 litres a second over the long term in the Huasco Valley.

Hot Chili’s vision aligns with Chilean government initiatives aimed at fostering investment in multiuser desalination water networks in the Atacama region.