According to Mining.com, Chile’s Economy and Mining Minister Daniel Mas said on Monday that the government is accelerating mining permit approvals to enable more than $100 billion in investment and support the recovery of the country’s key copper sector.
Speaking to La Tercera, Mas said the government is working “against the clock” to ensure legal certainty, clearer rules, and reduced bottlenecks. A new permitting framework will streamline approximately 200 procedures and reduce processing times by 30%, without lowering environmental standards.
“Our goal is to simplify, streamline, and respond quickly, because we know that behind every stalled project there are lost jobs and broken expectations for families,” Mas said.
The reforms aim to restore investor confidence and make exploration activity more attractive as projects resume.
Mining remains a cornerstone of Chile’s economy, supporting growth, investment, and government revenues. Officials estimate that faster permitting alone could generate more than 20,000 permanent jobs.
Pipeline of Multi-Billion-Dollar Projects
Recent developments indicate improving confidence, with more than $17 billion in projects entering the environmental review stage in recent weeks.
These include the $7.5 billion El Abra expansion project backed by Freeport-McMoRan and Codelco, a $5.2 billion concentrator investment at the Escondida mine by BHP, and a $3.1 billion direct lithium extraction (TED) project by Albemarle.
Mas added that the government will pursue further legal and administrative reforms to reduce regulatory burdens, while prioritizing exploration, project expansions, and the reprocessing of tailings and secondary minerals.
[出处 – 上海有色网] 智利加快矿业项目许可审批 https://news.smm.cn/news/103875341
