Mining in Chile

Most mining in Chile is concentrated to the Norte Grande region spanning most of the Atacama Desert.

Mining products of Chile includes copper, gold, silver, molybdenum, iron and coal.

[12] Mining nitrate in the North of Chile defined the country's history from the late 19th century to the mid 20th.

Thus, in a major step for Codelco, in 1995, it invited domestic and foreign mining firms to participate in four joint explorations in northern Chile.

The heightened importance of these foreign private firms in large-scale copper mining also resulted from the international business community's improved perception of Chile and from a mining law enacted during the Pinochet regime that clearly established compensation rules in the case of nationalization and otherwise encouraged investment in this sector.

[13] The high variability of copper prices affected the Chilean economy, particularly the external accounts and the availability of foreign exchange, in several ways.

[16] The only two lithium-extracting companies currently operating in Chile, SQM and Albemarle, have licences to extract lithium until 2030 and 2043 respectively.

The lead, iron and petroleum industries have shrunk since the mid-1970s, the result of both adverse international market conditions and declines in the availability of some of these resources.

With a combined total value of about US$4 billion, two of the largest investments planned in Chile in the early 1990s were designated for aluminium-smelter projects in the Puerto Aisén and Strait of Magellan areas.