It seeks to attract new and more international suppliers, to position Chile as a reliable option when investing in its industrial market.
The first series of EXPONOR 2024's international webinars "Opportunities for Foreign Companies in the Mining and Energy Market" was held online. Representatives from the main mining companies, Albemarle, Antofagasta Minerals and CODELCO, as well as COCHILCO, gave presentations on the opportunities offered by the local industry and Chile in the mining sector for foreign investment.
“We can envision Chile, once again, in a very attractive position in relation to the country’s risk. The mining, political and financial system risk is in a very solid position," said Joaquín Morales, Executive Vicepresident of the Chilean Copper Commission, COCHILCO, in his presentation on Chile's strengths, which stands out as a low-risk country in Latin America.
Chile is ranked two out of five in country, economic and financial system risk. In terms of political risk, it is in category three out of five, but even so it has managed to reduce economic uncertainty in relation to other countries, due to its tax responsibility, the high copper price, the strength of the Chilean peso and a situation of positive political evolution, highlighted Mr. Morales, according to data from AM Best, a credit risk agency.
"We have a great opportunity here in Chile, in the Antofagasta Region and also in the world, to be able to work and share our experience. For Albemarle it is a great honour to be part of EXPONOR, it is a very relevant meeting point for the industry and suppliers, and we look forward to seeing you next year," said Sebastian Andriano, Regional Procurement Manager at Albemarle.
At the previous EXPONOR, the mining company, in its commitment to sustainability, inaugurated La Negra III thermal evaporator facility, designed to significantly reduce process water per metric tonne. This is in addition to the fact that Albemarle has only 0.5% of the total use of this resource compared to other industries, according to statistics from the Directorate General of Water, DGA.
The National Copper Corporation, CODELCO, which has a heavy responsibility and commitment towards green mining to produce in a sustainable way, also presented. Along these lines, they designed a desalination plant project for the Northern Region, which has already been approved and announced to the public and is now in the process of construction, the “North Desalination Water Supply Project - CODELCO".
“The idea is to have two thousand litres per second. The volume we need as a company is close to 5,500 litres per second; we are not reaching the total, but in terms of converting water usage and recycling it is a great breakthrough and a useful complement to the project we have in the long term," said Ricardo Reyes, CODELCO's Quality Procurement Manager.
This plant will provide desalinated water to the Radomiro Tomic, Chuquicamata and Ministro Hales mine operations, adding measures that will increase efficiency in water consumption and recirculation from the reservoirs, reducing CODELCO's water carbon footprint to 60% by 2030.
After 20 years of operation, Antofagasta Minerals has gone from producing 50,000 tonnes of copper to 700,000 tonnes today, with the aim of reaching one million tonnes by the end of this decade, "this is based on the development plan we have, related to some of the projects we are carrying out. For example, our two main projects, one we call INCO, which is an extension of Los Pelambres and where we are developing a desalination plant; and we have invested US$1.7 billion over the last three years and we continue to grow," said Antonio Velásquez, Antofagasta Minerals´s Group Procurement Officer.
Likewise, a study is underway for the Operational Adaptation Project (PAO – acronym in Spanish) project, which involves a US$1.2 billion investment, and, for the future, and described by Antofagasta Minerals as an “EVU”. The second major initiative is Centinela mine in the Antofagasta Region, "we are now in the final process of having the project approved by the Board of Directors at the end of this year. This investment includes approximately US$3.7 billion, considering a new concentrator plant, creating new pits, and pumping systems," Velasquez added.
Webinar series
The second series of webinars presenting mining companies, for “the path to EXPONOR 2024”, will be held in October, also via Zoom, in order to anticipate what is to come at next year's most important technical and on-site mining and energy exhibition. The main audience for these seminars is people and/or companies, or multipliers such as Trade Associations whose members are looking for investment opportunities in mining and energy, and who have Chile and the region on their agenda.
EXPONOR 2024 - from June 3 to 6 - has the support of its strategic partners Albemarle, Antofagasta Minerals, Escondida|BHP, CODELCO, Minera El Abra, Pan American Silver, Sierra Gorda SCM, Spence|BHP and SQM, together with the sponsorship of APRIMIN, Consejo Minero, Generadoras de Chile, Ministries of Economy, Mining and Energy, ProChile, SOFOFA and SONAMI, and its official media is Minería Chilena, Reporte Minero y El Mercurio de Antofagasta. Reserve your stand at: reservas@exponor.cl - 552 454 335.
EXPONOR 2024... Solutions for a sustainable industry.
Antofagasta, July 14th, 2023.
