Why Chile ?
Chile has a reputation as one of the most attractive business destinations in South America, with a well-functioning market economy and sophisticated financial markets. In recent decades, Chile has been able to continuously and aggressively increase capital inflows into the country, while gaining a spotlight in the mining sector. With favourable foreign direct investment (FDI) policies, and a well-established, tried-and-tested operational framework, Chile scores well in terms of the major investment requirements typically demanded by investors. As shown below, Chile excels within the region, and shows itself as an international benchmark.
Chile is home to the largest concentration of world-class copper porphyrys. This has positioned Chile as a world-class mining destination even during the recent market downturn. It is a sign of confidence that, despite the global decline of over 18% in exploration expenditure during 2014 to 2015, Chile again ranked among the leading recipients of exploration budget, actually increasing its global share to 7% of the world's mining exploration investment. Read our article "Chile's 6 Major Metallogenic Belts" to learn more about the unique characteristics of Chile's geological potential.
Chile is the world's largest copper producer, second largest molybdenum producer, and holds almost 30% of the world's copper reserves. With regard to gold, by March 2015 early estimates showed that Chile had the potential to increase its share of world production up to 4.7% by 2023. In fact, COCHILCO estimates show that if the expected investment in gold projects take place (with over US$ 17 Billion anticipated), Chile will jump to 8th place in gold production worldwide, surpassing Mexico, Brazil and Colombia.
Chile is home to the largest lithium brine reserves in the world. It also holds 54 % of world lithium carbonate reserves, totalling about one third of the world’s total supply of lithium, according to the U.S. Geological Survey Mineral Commodity Summaries published in January 2016. Read more about the opportunities within lithium prospects in our article "Lithium opportunities in Chile: A fast-paced race driven by recent changes in the regulatory framework".
