New cycle of mining investments in Chile worth more than US$17 billion

According to industry sources, the “greater appetite” for investing in projects is due to a better climate and incentives from authorities, after years marked by regulatory uncertainty and permit delays.

After several years marked by the aftermath of the pandemic, political uncertainty, the constitutional debate and criticism of the permit process, Chile’s mining sector has begun to show signs of a new investment cycle.

The reactivation comes at a time when La Moneda has placed special emphasis on reducing evaluation and approval times for projects. This is one of the main demands that the mining industry – and the business sector in general – has been making for years.

The government is currently promoting a major reform of the permit system, with the aim of streamlining the processing of investment initiatives and regaining competitiveness against other countries. It has also sought to unblock projects that remain pending at different stages of environmental assessment, including several that have received the green light from the Committee of Ministers in recent months.

In this context, the recent announcement of US$900 million to extend the useful life of Minera Zaldívar until 2051 adds to a series of initiatives presented or reactivated during 2026, in a scenario also marked by the high price of copper and the growing global demand for critical minerals.

Industry insiders interpret this series of announcements as the start of a new cycle of mining investment after several years of slowdown.

New mining investments

The investment announced by Antofagasta Minerals for Zaldívar is among the most recent milestones in the sector. The initiative includes the construction of an aqueduct to supply the operation with treated wastewater from Antofagasta and will allow the useful life of the operation to be extended for another 25 years.

This is in addition to other significant mining expenditures, such as the expansion of El Abra by Freeport-McMoRan and Codelco for US$7.5 billion. The initiative is expected to produce 750 million pounds of copper per year.

There is also BHP’s “Escondida New Concentrator” project, designed to replace the historic “Los Colorados” plant, with an estimated cost of up to US$5.15 billion.

The proposal seeks to maintain the processing capacity of 460,000 tons per day in the face of the ageing of the deposit and the lower grade of the ore.

Source: Ex Ante.