According to a study by Acades and Plusmining, the Antofagasta Region has concentrated a large number of desalination projects, but most of them have been developed as “stand-alone” initiatives—that is, designed independently. In contrast, partial integration, which involves sharing infrastructure based on common demand, is one of the lowest-cost alternatives in the long term, and the Atacama Region emerges as a promising territory for its development.
Shared water infrastructure could provide significant economic benefits to Chile’s mining sector. Through various projects, the industry has demonstrated its ability to transport seawater over long distances and to high elevations.
However, the key question now is how to design water infrastructure in a way that captures synergies and reduces mining costs, which have been rising due to factors such as deeper ore bodies and declining ore grades.
A study conducted by Acades, with the support of Plusmining, shows that partial integration is the most efficient mechanism for making use of desalinated water. This approach proposes infrastructure that brings together users with geographically compatible demand, allowing them to share the main conveyance system and part of the water pumping
infrastructure.
This model differs from the other two alternatives analyzed in the study. One is stand-alone infrastructure, the most common approach in Chile, in which each user independently develops its own desalination plant, pumping system, and pipelines. The other is full integration, which proposes a common network that combines all desalinated water production and transportation under a single architecture.
Lower Cost
The study highlights that partial integration is an alternative that reduces costs, shortens the water network, and improves supply security.
Specifically, the levelized unit cost would decrease from US$5.60 per cubic meter (m³) of water in a stand-alone system to US$4.68/m³ by 2035 in a partially integrated system. This represents a 16% reduction if the recommended approach is adopted.
“Partial integration can be implemented through clearly defined regional corridors, with transparent access and expansion rules, and coordination mechanisms that align demand before each stakeholder finalizes its project design,” the report states.
In monetary terms, the study estimates that the difference would translate into potential savings of US$525 million per year, based on the projected water demand volume for 2035.
As a result, this water supply model would be the lowest-cost option over the long term. The report notes that “the evidence does not point to either extreme: neither toward the atomization of projects nor toward a single regional-scale network. Instead, it points toward a modular design, organized through geographic corridors or compatible demand clusters, in which economies of scale are captured only to the extent that they effectively generate efficiency.”
Plusmining Executive Director Juan Carlos Guajardo stated that “the question is no longer whether we can produce seawater and transport it over long distances and elevations, because that capability already exists. The question now lies in how to finance that infrastructure. Under the right conditions, partial integration among projects can reduce water costs from US$5.60 to US$4.68 per cubic meter over the next ten years. This would enhance the competitiveness of Chilean mining.”
Opportunity in Atacama
The Antofagasta Region accounts for a large share of Chile’s desalination infrastructure, with projects that have largely advanced independently.
The study finds that while these developments are functional and valid, they have been deployed through parallel routes that duplicate infrastructure and capacity that could have been planned more efficiently.
In this context, the Atacama Region stands out as a territory well suited for the development of infrastructure designed around partial integration. With a mining project pipeline at an earlier stage of development than Antofagasta, its water infrastructure is not yet fully established.
“This condition is not a limitation but rather a comparative advantage: there is room to evaluate, compare, and structure solutions before each project defines its route, secures its permits, and signs its contracts independently,” the report states.
The report concludes that “if this opportunity is used wisely, the region can avoid the costs associated with the lack of coordination that characterized development in Antofagasta: duplicated routes, parallel permitting processes, and plants sized solely according to the individual pace of each operator. The new layer of water infrastructure now taking shape in northern Chile can be built with a system-wide perspective. That choice remains available.”
Fuente: La Tercera