Chile is planning to invest $25.6bn to develop 100 mining projects in the short term, which would generate 83,000 direct jobs.
These projects have already received environmental permission in Q120201, the Chilean Minister of Mining said in a statement, adding that iron ore and copper projects will be initiated first.
The Antofagasta region will build and develop 34 mines with an investment of $16.8bn. Among these, the improvement of the Radomiro Tomic division, operated by Codelco, will be first with an investment of $882mn.
Chile will also develop 38 mining projects in the Atacama region by investing $4.3bn, and it plans to start 9 mines in the Coquimbo region with an investment of $3.3bn, the minister said without disclosing the name of projects nor further details.
Other regions such as Valparaíso will develop six mining projects with an investment of $361mn, Tarapacá region will invest $548mn in 4 mining projects, the Metropolitan region will develop 2 projects with an investment of $102mn, O’Higgins region will invest $74mn to develop one project, and Aysén region will invest $10mn to develop 4 mining projects, among other.
Chile’s mining production declined by 6.2pc year-on-year in February, the National Institute of Statistics (Ine), said without disclosing volume.