The

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

an Organic Constitutional Law on Mining Concessions ( es, Ley Orgánica Constitucional sobre Concesiones Mineras) distinguishes two types of mining concessions exploratory concessions and exploitation concessions. The law was submitted in August 1981 by

Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...

to the Government Junta which was the legislative body of the dictatorship. It was approved on January 7 and rectified on January 22 and 23 of 1982.

José Piñera José Piñera Echenique (born October 6, 1948) is a Chilean economist, one of the famous Chicago Boys, who served as minister of Labor and Social Security, and of Mining, in the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. He is the architect of Ch ...

, who was minister of mining in 1980 and 1981, declared the Law on Mining Concessions together with the

Chilean Mining Code Chilean may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Chile, a country in South America * Chilean people * Chilean Spanish * Chilean culture * Chilean cuisine * Chilean Americans See also *List of Chileans This is a list of Chileans who ar ...

were done to give "free access" and "judicial security" to private investors. Key articles of the law state that: *Both exploratory and exploitation concessions are

real Real may refer to: Currencies * Brazilian real (R$) * Central American Republic real * Mexican real * Portuguese real * Spanish real * Spanish colonial real Music Albums * ''Real'' (L'Arc-en-Ciel album) (2000) * ''Real'' (Bright album) (2010) ...

rights distinct and independent of the

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

on the surface (Article 2). *There is no depth limit on the concessions (Article 3). *The owners of a concession are the only ones entitled to sample and dig in the concession. Limitations to sampling and digging can be established when the sampling or digging causes damages to the surface real estate owner or the

public interest The public interest is "the welfare or well-being of the general public" and society. Overview Economist Lok Sang Ho in his ''Public Policy and the Public Interest'' argues that the public interest must be assessed impartially and, therefore ...

(Article 7). *Owners of concessions have to pay annual patents to the state, if not concessions are auctioned (Articles 12 and 18). *Exploration concession are cancelled if exploitation is carried out on them (Articles 13 and 18). *The owners of the concessions have the right to establish surface facilities that are relevant for the exploration or exploitation of the concession (Article 8). *Exploration concessions lasts for up to four years. Exploitation concessions have no time limit (Article 17).

References

Mining concessions Mining in Chile 1982 in Chilean law Military dictatorship of Chile (1973–1990) Mining law and governance {{Mining-stub