No digital asset has yet been able to replace gold as protection against uncertainty. Last year marked one of the largest increases in recent decades.
Gold production in Chile reached 45.4 tons of fine metal in 2025, a 27% increase compared to the previous year, marking the highest volume recorded since 2016, when the country produced 46.4 tons of the metal, according to Cochilco.
The increase was mainly driven by higher production at Salares Norte, a project owned by the South African company Gold Fields, which by mid-2025 reached commercial production levels after a gradual ramp-up period. Last year, Salares Norte produced 11.4 tons of gold, around eight times more than the previous year’s output of 1.3 tons. The Gold Fields mine is now the country’s most important gold operation.
In 2024, 68% of the gold produced came as a byproduct of copper, and only 32% corresponded to operations dedicated to extracting the precious metal. However, with the production increase at Salares Norte, this figure is expected to change.
In this regard, the executive director of consulting firm Plusmining, Juan Carlos Guajardo, highlights the role of the metal in economic activity. “Its importance lies, first, in the diversification it brings to a mining matrix that is highly concentrated in copper. Second, historically, about three-quarters of national gold production came as a byproduct of copper mining, which improves the profitability of those operations. However, this structure is beginning to rebalance with the start-up of primary projects such as Salares Norte, the restart of La Coipa in 2022, and, as of January 2026, the beginning of production at Rio2’s Fénix Gold project, which expects to produce between 60,000 and 70,000 ounces annually in its first year,” he explains.
These projects are joined by other greenfield initiatives included in Cochilco’s investment portfolio. With start-up expected in 2030, the Ciclón Exploradora project, owned by Eco Earth Minerals SpA, a subsidiary of Pampa Camarones, is planned. The project received environmental approval (EIA) in December last year. Further ahead, Cochilco considers the Nueva Esperanza initiative by Kingsgate Consolidated, with start-up in 2035, and the Lobo Marte project by Kinross Gold Corporation, which could begin operations in 2036.
The Role of Gold as a Safe Haven
The increase in gold production comes in a context in which gold prices have recorded one of their largest increases in recent decades. In this scenario, gold has reinforced its role as a safe-haven asset amid geopolitical tensions, fiscal deficits, and growing distrust in traditional currencies, which has driven record purchases of the metal by central banks, especially in emerging economies, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“Gold is acquiring a growing strategic dimension in an international context marked by geopolitical tensions, trade fragmentation, and a process of global monetary reconfiguration.The sustained increase in gold purchases by central banks confirms its consolidation as a reserve asset. In that scenario, having domestic gold production is not only economically relevant but also strategically important,” says Guajardo.
Last year was marked by a sharp increase in gold prices, driven by geopolitical uncertainty. “Gold’s role as a hedge against inflation is both celebrated and misunderstood. Its price tends to rise not only with inflation, but also with the loss of confidence in monetary policy.
When real interest rates turn negative—when holding cash or bonds generates returns below inflation—gold becomes relatively more attractive (…). However, during periods of stable inflation and solid economic growth, gold tends to languish. It is not a vehicle for prosperity; it is insurance against the absence of prosperity,” explains Pratik Ghansham, assistant professor at Ness Wadia College of Commerce, in a column published by the IMF.
Even in an era dominated by digitalization, the metal continues to be the main financial safe haven. Although savings and investment are increasingly conducted in digital formats, gold maintains a difficult-to-replicate advantage: it is an asset outside the financial system that does not depend on an issuer’s promise to pay. In simple terms, it reduces counterparty risk and functions as insurance when uncertainty rises, because its value is not tied to the solvency of a company, a bank, or a government, nor to whether a network or platform operates without interruption,” says Emanoelle Santos, market analyst at XTB Latam.
Source: El Mercurio