The mining sector in Chile is one of the pillars of
Chilean economy
The Economy of Chile is a market economy and high-income economy as ranked by the World Bank. The country is considered one of South America's most prosperous nations, leading the region in competitiveness, income per capita, globalization, eco ...
and
copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
exports alone stands for more than one third of government income. Most mining in Chile is concentrated to the
Norte Grande
The Norte Grande (''Big North'', ''Far North'', ''Great North'') is one of the five natural regions into which CORFO divided continental Chile in 1950. It borders Peru to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Altiplano, Bolivia and A ...
region spanning most of the
Atacama Desert
The Atacama Desert ( es, Desierto de Atacama) is a desert plateau in South America covering a 1,600 km (990 mi) strip of land on the Pacific coast, west of the Andes Mountains. The Atacama Desert is the driest nonpolar desert in th ...
. Mining products of Chile includes
copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
,
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
,
silver
Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...
,
molybdenum
Molybdenum is a chemical element with the symbol Mo and atomic number 42 which is located in period 5 and group 6. The name is from Neo-Latin ''molybdaenum'', which is based on Ancient Greek ', meaning lead, since its ores were confused with lea ...
,
iron
Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...
and
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when dea ...
. Chile was, in 2019, the world's largest producer of
copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
,
iodine
Iodine is a chemical element with the symbol I and atomic number 53. The heaviest of the stable halogens, it exists as a semi-lustrous, non-metallic solid at standard conditions that melts to form a deep violet liquid at , and boils to a vi ...
and
rhenium
Rhenium is a chemical element with the symbol Re and atomic number 75. It is a silvery-gray, heavy, third-row transition metal in group 7 of the periodic table. With an estimated average concentration of 1 part per billion (ppb), rhenium is one ...
, the second largest producer of
lithium
Lithium (from el, λίθος, lithos, lit=stone) is a chemical element with the symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard conditions, it is the least dense metal and the least dense solid el ...
and
molybdenum
Molybdenum is a chemical element with the symbol Mo and atomic number 42 which is located in period 5 and group 6. The name is from Neo-Latin ''molybdaenum'', which is based on Ancient Greek ', meaning lead, since its ores were confused with lea ...
, the sixth largest producer of
silver
Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...
, the seventh largest producer of
salt
Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...
, the eighth largest producer of
potash
Potash () includes various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form. , the thirteenth producer of
sulfur
Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...
and the thirteenth producer of
iron ore
Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...
in the world. In the production of
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
, between 2006 and 2017, the country produced annual quantities ranging from 35.9 tons in 2017 to 51.3 tons in 2013.
Nitrate
Mining nitrate in the North of Chile defined the country's history from the late 19th century to the mid 20th. Indeed the period 1873-1914 is referred to as the
Saltpetre Republic.
Copper
![Caletones](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Caletones.jpg)
Although the relative importance of
copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
declined in the 1970s and 1980s, it was still the Chilean economy's most important product in 1992. The mining sector represented 6.7 percent of GDP in 1992, as compared with 8.9 percent in 1985. In 1991, copper exports represented 30 percent of the total value of exports, a substantial decline with respect to the 1960s, when it represented almost 80 percent of total exports. Mining exports in general accounted for about 48 percent of total exports in 1991.
Two developments in the copper sector were noteworthy. First, in the 1987-91 period, there was a substantial increase in the output of refined copper, as well as a relative decline in the production of
blister copper. Second, the state-owned Copper Corporation (Corporación del Cobre—
Codelco
Codelco (''Corporación Nacional'' ''del'' ''Cobre de Chile'' or, in English, the National Copper Corporation of Chile) is a Chilean state-owned copper mining company. It was formed in 1976 from foreign-owned copper companies that were nationalise ...
), the world's largest copper producer, still had an overwhelmingly dominant role (accounting for 60 percent of Chile's copper output in 1991).
The so-called
Codelco Law of April 1992 authorized Codelco for the first time to form joint ventures with the private sector to work unexploited deposits. 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. Foreign owned private firms were to become increasingly important as new investment projects got underway.
![Chilean_Miners](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Chilean_Miners.jpg)
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
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 ...
that clearly established compensation rules in the case of nationalization and otherwise encouraged investment in this sector.
Given this more favourable context,
Phelps Dodge
Phelps Dodge Corporation was an American mining company founded in 1834 as an import-export firm by Anson Greene Phelps and his two sons-in-law William Earle Dodge, Sr. and Daniel James. The latter two ran Phelps, James & Co., the part of the o ...
, a United States mining company and the
Sumitomo Metal Mining Company, a Japanese firm, signed a US$1.5 billion contract in 1992 with the Chilean government to develop
Candelaria, a copper and gold mine south of
Copiapó
Copiapó () is a city and commune in northern Chile, located about 65 kilometers east of the coastal town of Caldera. Founded on December 8, 1744, it is the capital of Copiapó Province and Atacama Region.
Copiapó lies about 800 km nort ...
. The mine's potential production of refined copper was equivalent to about 10 percent of Codelco's entire production.
Copper Stabilization Fund
Despite the decline in
copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
's importance, Chile continued to be affected by the vagaries of the international copper market. The fund received 0.2-0.5% of GDP, depending on the size of the budget surplus each year. In 2006, a one-off sum of $600 million United States dollars was added to the fund. The fund was replaced with the Economic and Social
Stabilization Fund in 2007. The new fund received fiscal surpluses in excess of 1% of GDP. The high variability of copper prices affected the Chilean economy, particularly the external accounts and the availability of foreign exchange, in several ways. In the 1987-91 period, the international copper market was very favorable; for example, copper prices in 1989 were 50 percent higher than in 1980. By May 1992, however, the price of copper had declined to about its 1980 level.
The government decided to counteract the effect of the variability of copper prices by creating the Copper Stabilization Fund, which worked as follows: whenever the price of copper increased, the government would direct a proportion of the increased revenues into the fund; these resources would then be used during those years when the price of copper fell below its "normal" level. This institutional development helped Chile at least partially free itself from the volatility of the copper market. The Copper Stabilization Fund is occasionally tapped into if there is a major need for more money. Part of the fund will be used to help pay for reconstruction after the devastating
2010 Chile earthquake.
Lithium
Northern Chile forms part of the
Lithium Triangle with substantial
reserves in the form of brine. The explosive growth in electric vehicles since 2015 has triggered increased demand. Chile's
SQM is a world leader in lithium production.
Chile is the main producer of lithium from
brine
Brine is a high-concentration solution of salt (NaCl) in water (H2O). In diverse contexts, ''brine'' may refer to the salt solutions ranging from about 3.5% (a typical concentration of seawater, on the lower end of that of solutions used for br ...
.
[Cabello, J. (2022)]
Reserves, resources and lithium exploration in the salt flats of northern Chile
''Andean Geology
''Andean Geology'' (formerly ''Revista Geológica de Chile'') is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published three times per year by the National Geology and Mining Service, Chile's geology and mining agency. The journal covers the field of geol ...
''. 49 (2): 297–306. doi
10.5027/andgeoV49n2-3444
Retrieved July 2, 2022. Most of Chile's lithium reserves are in
Salar de Atacama
Salar de Atacama is the largest salt flat in Chile. It is located south of San Pedro de Atacama, is surrounded by mountains, and has no drainage outlets. In the east it is enclosed by the main chain of the Andes, while to the west lies a secondar ...
and
Salar de Maricunga.
[
]
Other minerals
Since the late 1970s, the production of gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
and silver
Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...
has increased greatly. 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
Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. I ...
-smelter projects in the Puerto Aisén
Puerto, a Spanish word meaning ''seaport'', may refer to:
Places
* El Puerto de Santa María, Andalusia, Spain
*Puerto, a seaport town in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines
* Puerto Colombia, Colombia
* Puerto Cumarebo, Venezuela
* Puerto Galera, O ...
and Strait of Magellan
The Strait of Magellan (), also called the Straits of Magellan, is a navigable sea route in southern Chile separating mainland South America to the north and Tierra del Fuego to the south. The strait is considered the most important natural pass ...
areas.
SQM is also a significant iodine producer.
Almost no mining of placer gold occurs today.
See also
*Geology of Chile
The geology of Chile is a characterized by processes linked to subduction such as volcanism, earthquakes and orogeny. The buildings blocks of Chile's geology assembled during the Paleozoic Era. Chile was by then the southwestern margin of the su ...
*Law on Mining Concessions The Chilean 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 A ...
* Nitratine
Nitratine or nitratite, also known as cubic niter (UK: nitre), soda niter or Chile saltpeter (UK: Chile saltpetre), is a mineral, the naturally occurring form of sodium nitrate, NaNO3. Chemically it is the sodium analogue of saltpeter. Nitratine ...
or Chile saltpeter, the naturally occurring form of sodium nitrate
** List of Saltpeter works in Tarapacá and Antofagasta
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
References
External links
*
Chile's mining industry, Amcham Chile
in 2006
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mining In Chile