Chile’s right‑wing pivot on mining policy: project and permitting risks for engineers
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan
First reported on MINING.com
30 Second Briefing
Chile’s incoming right‑wing government under José Antonio Kast is merging the Mining and Economy ministries and handing the combined portfolio to agronomist Daniel Mas, unsettling a sector facing an estimated $105 billion in investment to 2034 and already battling a “cursed” permitting system where major projects can need 500+ permits. The shift coincides with Chile’s first critical minerals strategy, expanding focus beyond copper and lithium to 14 minerals including molybdenum, rhenium, cobalt and rare earths. Analysts warn that without faster approvals and incentives for exploration, Chile risks missing the current price cycle as copper output fell 2% in 2025 amid declining grades and ageing deposits.
Technical Brief
- Kast’s ministry merger places an agronomist, Daniel Mas, in charge of mining-specific regulatory and economic decisions.
- The Chilean Mining Chamber warns prior attempts to fold mining into broader economic portfolios produced poor outcomes.
- Chamber president Manuel Viera argues mining policy must be technically grounded, not politically driven, to protect fiscal contributions.
- Analysts Zamanillo and Rivera frame the merger as an “institutional signal” within a geopolitical mining context.
Our Take
The same 14 critical minerals highlighted here (copper, lithium, molybdenum, rhenium, boron, cobalt, rare earth elements, etc.) are exactly those formalised in Chile’s National Critical Minerals Strategy released in January 2026, signalling that any policy shift under a right‑wing government will likely be constrained by that existing framework rather than starting from scratch.
With copper already contributing 11–12% of Chile’s GDP and more than 20% when multiplier effects are included, even modest production declines such as the projected 2% drop in 2025 materially affect fiscal space, which in turn limits how aggressively any administration can tighten environmental or permitting rules without jeopardising revenues.
The fact that a single project can require more than 500 permits, combined with the stalled US$2.5 billion Dominga iron ore project, suggests that for assets like Salares del Norte and other copper–gold projects in Chile, regulatory streamlining may now be as important to project economics as ore grade or capex assumptions in our recent Latin America coverage.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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