The president of the National Mining Society, Jorge Riesco, recalled that “copper is 'Chile's salary' and must reach all Chileans.”
On Thursday night, the National Mining Society (Sonami) held a dinner in Chile to celebrate its 140th anniversary, an occasion which President Gabriel Boric did not attend.
However, in his speech, the president of the organization, Jorge Riesco, echoed President Boric's words when he mentioned that "copper is 'Chile's salary' and must reach all Chileans."
On that premise, the union leader acknowledged the Government's interest in the industry, recalling another of the president's interventions on mining, when at Enade, he pointed out that the sector must increase copper production by one million metric tons.
However, he also listed certain weak points in the sector: the capitalization of Enami, the qualification of projects, the elimination of the Committee of Ministers and the much criticized "permisology."
Along those lines, he pointed out a possible initiative shared by most other representatives of the sector: A legislative fast track to accelerate the processing of 36 mining projects equivalent to US$10.405 billion.
Codelco President Máximo Pacheco said that “our country can and must increase copper production, since we have not been able to exceed five and a half million tons for 20 years.”
"To do this, we need a new way of mining. This must go hand in hand with streamlining the processing of permits," said the state-owned company executive.
The licensing process is undoubtedly the main problem for mining. Although progress has been made on the project for sectoral permits in the Lower House, it still needs to be passed to the Finance Committee and then to the Senate.
2025 PROJECTIONS
On the other hand, today the estimates of the Ministry of Finance and the Dipres were released, which calculated a copper price of US$4.09 per pound for next year, plus a non-mining GDP trend of 2.1% for 2025 and 2.2% for the period 2025-2029.
Faced with these figures, the president of the Mining and Energy Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, Marco Antonio Sulantay, described the copper situation as “frustrating” because “we have not been able to take advantage of this bonanza because in public mining there is a high inefficiency in production, and the same thing happens in private mining due to permit problems.”
The deputy also criticized the absence of President Gabriel Boric at the Sonami event, pointing out that “it is not possible that the president makes a trip to Saudi Arabia seeking investment and does not prioritize the local industry.”
The figures released by the Treasury are extremely relevant because the preparation of the 2025 Budget depends on them, a discussion that has already started with its first items in Congress.
Socialist MP Jaime Naranjo, on the other hand, said that these are good signs and that they are in line with the “green shoots” that activity in the country is showing.
