Protesters agreed to end demonstrations that had blocked access to the Atacama salt flat in Chile, the world's largest lithium deposit, with the promise of a visit by President Gabriel Boric. Indigenous groups had for days blocked public roads that lead to mining operations in the south of the salt flat, where domestic producer SQM and U.S. firm Albemarle extract the metal, preventing workers, supplies and lithium from entering or leaving. The demonstrations were sparked by an agreement signed last month between SQM and state-run copper firm Codelco, which indigenous leaders said sidelined local communities despite a recent government promise of a dialogue table to discuss lithium mining in the Atacama.