MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile investment in mining expected to reach 112 billion in eight years

Minister de Solminihac said copper investments will have the ‘lion’s share’

Chile expects mining investment to reach 112 billion US dollars by 2021, Mining Minister Hernan de Solminihac announced this week. This includes the 27bn planned by Chile’s National Copper Corporation, Codelco. Overall the sum is 8% higher than the November forecast.

Minister de Solminihac said that the incorporation of nine projects valued at 3.6bn dollars and another 20 initiatives that updated their investment amounts, have helped reach the new estimate.

Out of the 112 billion dollars, 86.7bn will be spent on copper mining of which Chile is the world’s leading producer and exporter; 21.7bn on gold and silver mining and 3.6bn on iron and other industrial minerals.

The northern region of Antofagasta will get the most investment, with 43bn dollars, followed by the northern region of Atacama, with 34bn.

Neighbouring Peru which has also become a world player in mineral exports has plans to invest 57.5 billion dollars in the mining sector in the next eight years to 2021.

Investment in Peru’s mining sector is currently between 7 and 8bn and will increase to 10bn in 2014, according to the president of the Peruvian Society of Mining, Oil and Energy (SNMPE), Eva Arias of Sologuren.

Scotiabank Peru predicts an investment of 9.4 billion for this year, and anticipates that ‘in the next three years investments would be lower’ because “there are no new projects”. Environmental challenges and growing activism from indigenous peoples in mining areas have several major projects frozen and triggered a ‘pause’ in investing.