Experts warn that the law must be implemented effectively to avoid introducing additional discretion, for example through secondary regulations.
According to Cochilco’s latest forecast, released earlier this year, two-thirds of the water used by the mining industry by 2034 is expected to come from seawater. A recently enacted law could further support investment in desalinated water for mining by simplifying the permits required for these projects and potentially shortening approval timelines, provided it is implemented correctly.
Juan Ignacio Guzmán, CEO of GEM Mining Consulting, explains that Law No. 21,813 on seawater use and desalination “organizes a regulatory space that until now operated through a combination of maritime concessions, sectoral permits, environmental assessments, and land-use agreements.” The new framework creates a special concession regime, recognizes easements for plants, pipelines, brine disposal systems, and electrical infrastructure, allows these facilities to be located in rural areas, and enables concession applications to be processed in parallel with the Environmental Impact Assessment System (SEIA).
“If implemented properly, this can reduce regulatory gray areas, improve project bankability, and accelerate investment decisions,” he says.
For Bastián del Mauro, analyst at consulting firm Plusmining, the new legislation “formally recognizes the use of seawater as a structural solution for the country’s water security and for the continuity of strategic productive activities such as mining.”
“This legal initiative will contribute to the development of the mining industry by providing greater legal certainty and accelerating the permitting process for seawater extraction plants,” says Álvaro Merino Lacoste, Executive Director of Núcleo Minero. Merino highlights two measures in particular that could accelerate investment. First, the law seeks to reduce permitting timelines, which currently can reach 139 months—nearly 12 years.
“In addition, it establishes a special desalination concession system of up to 30 years, renewable once, which is fully aligned with the long operational life of mining projects developed over the long term,” he notes.
More Than 60 Initiatives
According to a survey conducted by the Capital Goods Corporation (CBC) and the Chilean Desalination and Reuse Association (Acades), as of 2025 there were more than 60 water infrastructure projects based on non-conventional sources (such as desalination and water reuse) at various stages of development, representing projected investments exceeding US$25 millions.
“There are good reasons to believe that the new law could accelerate investment in desalination, since it contains several elements that provide certainty to project developers,” says Rafael Palacios, Executive Vice President of Acades.
Investment in desalination within the Chilean mining sector had already been following an upward trend before the implementation of the law, notes Del Mauro. “In this context, the new regulation is not the cause of this trend, but it can play an important role in consolidating it,” he adds.
Implementation
However, experts are concerned that the implementation of the law could create additional bureaucracy for desalination projects.
“Timelines could be shortened if parallel processing and the new institutional framework operate as a true coordination mechanism. They could also be extended if regulations introduce additional discretion, successive reporting requirements, or delays caused by strategic policy definitions,” says Guzmán. He adds that because the law will enter into force in November 2027, projects currently in the design stage will need to be reviewed to ensure compliance with the new regulatory framework.
“The challenge lies primarily in the implementation of the public system: regulations, permits, and evaluation criteria must be clear, coordinated, and timely, so that the new regulatory framework becomes an enabling tool rather than an additional burden,” Del Mauro agrees.
Shared Infrastructure
One advantage of the new legislation is that it facilitates the development of projects serving multiple purposes. “One of the positive aspects of the law is that it enables, regulates, and promotes the development of mixed-use or multipurpose projects. This opens the door for a single infrastructure system to support productive activities such as mining while also contributing to human consumption,” says Del Mauro.
Furthermore, the law establishes that industrial projects: “must reserve up to 5% of their capacity for sanitation and human consumption purposes,” Merino explains.
“The law improves opportunities for project developers seeking to capture economies of scale in water transportation, allowing them to offer a more competitive supply that can also be accessed by medium-sized agricultural and mining operations that can leverage large end-users as anchor customers,” says Palacios.
Asked whether the law will encourage greater development of shared-use infrastructure, Antofagasta Minerals CEO Iván Arriagada commented: “To the extent that regulation, legislation, and incentives allow the sharing of mining-support infrastructure, particularly in the provision of inputs, we believe this is a positive development for the sector and something we will evaluate on a case-by-case basis.”
Fuente: El Mercurio