BHP's Escondida urges regulatory certainty in Chile to boost copper investment
SANTIAGO - The head of BHP-controlled Escondida, the world's largest copper mine, on Thursday urged Chilean authorities to provide legal, regulatory and tax certainty to help copper mining projects move forward, underscoring global demand for the red metal.
Alejandro Tapia, head of Escondida, which is located in northern Chile, spoke at an industry event.
BHP expects global copper demand to nearly double by 2050 to around 50-million tons a year, requiring major investment to expand and maintain supply, he said.
"To attract this investment, we need certainty: legal, regulatory, tax certainty, and permitting processes that are predictable," Tapia said.
Tapia said Chile's mining industry faces steep challenges, including aging deposits, deeper mines, rising costs and more complex ore, all of which are eroding productivity at existing operations.
He welcomed recent government moves to speed up project approvals and improve certainty for investors, including new legislation on sectoral permits.
BHP was not calling for weaker environmental rules, Tapia said.
"We are not seeking a more lax environmental system," Tapia said. "What we want is predictability so we can keep moving forward."
BHP has an investment pipeline of about $10-billion at Escondida over the next seven to eight years, including a new concentrator expected to cost more than $5-billion.
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