They view positively the opportunities for collaboration between projects or the use of Chilean infrastructure.
On the other side of the Andes, Javier Milei’s government has been focused on providing incentives and certainty to attract mining investment that in the past has primarily been directed to Chile. These measures have produced results; for example, Swiss company Glencore submitted two copper and other metals projects worth US$13.5 billion to qualify for the Large Investment Incentive Regime (RIGI), while Anglo-Australian Rio Tinto has three new lithium projects in its portfolio at different stages of development.
In this context, experts argue that increased mining investment in Argentina is not necessarily only a threat to capital flows into Chile, but also presents an opportunity for the industry.
“The strategic question for Chile is not whether it should compete with Argentina, but how to capture value from the wave of investment opening up across the Andes, while at the same time regaining competitiveness to attract its own incremental investment,” said Juan Ignacio Guzmán, CEO of GEM Mining Consulting.
Recently, Argentina’s Congress approved a law that relaxes glacier protection in the Andes, which could unlock mining investment in the area. “In Argentina’s case, prices have been favorable for years and projected demand driven by the energy transition is structural, but regulation had kept those projects sealed,” said Emanoelle Santos, market analyst at XTB.
“Argentina wants to capture a share of the global mining investment flow that Chile has historically dominated, and it is doing so at the most opportune moment, when copper and lithium are strategic assets for the energy transition and institutional capital is looking for where to deploy,” he added.
According to Antonia Godoy, policy and regulatory analyst at Plusmining, “the development of projects in Argentina will naturally create a market for Chilean mining services. In fact, signs in that direction are already beginning to emerge.”
Executives’ perspective
In a week that has brought together leading mining executives in Santiago, part of the discussion has focused on potential collaboration between the two countries.
“We continue to see very strong and positive signs that investing in this part of South America, in Chile and Argentina, represents a unique opportunity. Our Vicuña project is located on the border between Chile and Argentina. We have seen two presidents come together to promote this binational agreement and ensure that both countries and both regions where these deposits are located obtain maximum benefit,” Lundin Mining CEO Jack Lundin said on Monday during a panel at Cesco Week.
“The development of mining in Argentina would benefit from collaboration with Chile, especially in areas such as the use of talent and expertise that exist in Chile. We have developed mining for more than 50 years, at large scale. Also in logistics and the use of infrastructure. We have ports and high-quality public infrastructure. Therefore, there is a space for Chile to lead and take advantage of that edge by monetizing this infrastructure,” Antofagasta Minerals CEO Iván Arriagada told El Mercurio.
Rio Tinto is one of the mining companies developing lithium projects in both Chile and Argentina. In Argentina, progress is more advanced following the acquisition of Arcadium Lithium’s assets last year. Regarding collaboration between projects in both countries, Rio Tinto Copper CEO Katie Jackson told El Mercurio that “we are always looking for synergies.
I think there is excellent collaboration between our teams working in copper and those working in lithium, because we are aware of the importance of considering geography, stakeholders, and communities, and we think holistically. So yes, we are always looking for synergies.”
Source: El Mercurio