The world is more connected than ever, and mining technology and service companies are no exception. As they expand their reach globally, they need to follow their clients to new markets, from a copper mine high in the Andes to the icey cold winters of Northern Canada. When exploring new markets, it’s the classic “chicken or egg” dilemma: You want to see success before committing to the expenses of a local operation, but as soon as you start generating revenue, the risk of being classified as a PE increases.
Codelco’s title as the world’s largest copper producer is now in jeopardy with production dropping to the lowest level in 25 years. Codelco has several structural projects underway that are meant to boost copper production for the next 50 years but it has been plagued by delays. Check out our overview to understand the current state of Codelco.
Over the last few weeks there have been several new positive developments for the Ecuadorian mining market. Specifically, EcuaCorriente, plans to invest US$650mn-US$700mn to increase output of its already operating Mirador copper mine which will greatly increase Ecuador’s copper exports.
At a time when the world needs to find more copper, there are only a few examples of junior exploration companies that have been able to make significant discoveries over the last 10 years in Chile. This is set to change with the recently released Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) for Hot Chile’s Costa Fuego Copper-Gold Project.
We provide a summary of BHP’s Operational Decarbonisation Investor Briefing which outlines the company’s plans to reach net-zero emissions throughout its global operations by 2050. The plan provides some unique insights into the technology and path it will take to decarbonize its operations.
Lithium Americas announced this week that they have started production at its Cauchari-Olaroz Project located in northwest Argentina’s Jujuy province. The USD$979m lithium project is expected to produce 40,000t of battery-grade lithium carbonate over an estimated operational life of 40 years.
Chile has been able to take transform its energy matrix in a very short period of time. The growth of renewables has also uncovered weak points that need to be addressed if the sector will continue to grow. Battery storage is an important first step to solving the high levels of dumping, congestion and zero marginal costs for Chilean producers.
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