Chile wants to boost local copper smelting capacity to rely less on Asian plants

The Mining Ministry delivered to Congress a plan to upgrade existing smelters and refineries and develop new plants in partnership with the private sector, it said Thursday.

Strengthening smelting capacity is a priority for the leftist government of President Gabriel Boric, which is also looking to capture more value in turning lithium into battery chemicals. More than half of Chile copper output is shipped out in semi-processed form, with the last smelter built back in 1990. More local smelting would reduce waste involved in exporting concentrates and improve traceability. New generation smelters are also much cleaner.

The proposal was formulated after talks with workers, companies and academia, and follows the decision of state-owned miner Codelco to close its Ventanas smelter for environmental reasons. It identifies the leading role of the state — which owns four of Chile’s six existing smelters — in developing new capacity through Codelco and Enami, another state-owned company.

In January, Codelco signed an accord with Europe’s top smelter Aurubis to look into potential areas of collaboration regarding smelting and circular economy projects in Chile. Enami is looking into a project to upgrade the Hernan Videla Lira smelter.