[2] In 1911, he and his brother arrived in Chile where they operated a small ore dealing business.
[1][2] After World War I, which created strong demand for metals, the brothers, having both amassed sufficient wealth to branch out on their own, dissolved their relationship and divided their territory with Sali taking central and southern Chile and Moritz taking northern Chile, Peru, and Bolivia.
[1] In 1920, Sali obtained Chilean citizenship and formed Compania Minera y Comercial Sali Hochschild S.A.[2] In 1924, he opened the Pataguas mine near La Ligua where he installed the country's first flotation plant[2] which enabled the recovery of valuable metals from much lower grade ore.
[2] In 1936, he completed the Ojancos flotation plant in Copiapó which separated gold from copper ore.[2] Finding that many copper ores could not be separated by flotation, he adapted new technologies to separate the gold used the cyanide process which utilized cyanide, sulfuric acid, and lime to leach gold from the ore.[2] He built a sulfuric acid factory nearby so the operation would be self-sufficient.
[2] Ojancos was the first plant in South America to use this new and highly toxic technology processing 300 tons of ore per day.