By Mohsin Abbas / The Santiago Times
SANTIAGO — Chile is taking part in PDAC Convention 2017, the world’s largest exploration and prospecting fair, to be held in Toronto, Canada, between March 5 and 8.
During the most important exploration and exploration fair in the world – 85th Convention of Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada – the comparative advantages will be promoted and new ENAMI projects will be announced, according to Minister of Mining Aurora Williams.
Among the public-private representatives of the official delegation that will represent the country in the international sample, coming from Sernageomin, are Cochilco and Enami; Codelco; InvestChile; ProChile; Sonami; The Chilean Chamber of Construction; The Chilean Institute of Mining Engineers; The National High Mining Mining Program; and Aprimin.
The fair is being held in collaboration with representatives of trade associations of large, medium and small-scale mining, sector’s suppliers, and public agencies dedicated to attracting investment. “We have devised a strategy to take advantage of each day of development of this sample,” the mining minister said at the launching ceremony at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Santiago ahead of the convention, over the weekened.
Undersecretaries Edgardo Riveros and Erich Schnake were also present on the occasion.
The minister added it will be disseminated, for example, according to the National Cadastre of Mining Concessions, 61 per cent of the territory with geological potential is available to be concessioned.
Chile has a National Geology Plan developed by Sernageomin, which facilitates the development of greater exploration because it contains maps of basic geology, geophysical and geochemical.
“Also, the country has the best evaluated economy in Latin America (according to studies of the World Economic Forum 2016 and Heritage Foundation 2016) and has a seal of serious institutionality and political and social stability, transparency, competitiveness with clear rules, and excellent business prospects,” Aurora Williams said.
Williams also announced that in this PDAC, the National Mining Company, ENAMI, will take advantage of seeking strategic partners to develop eleven new greenfield and brownfield exploration projects. “The state-owned company intends to discover deposits for medium and large-scale mining production, and also to carry out pre-feasibility and profile engineering projects,” he added.
Meanwhile, Undersecretary Riveros said that they have a solid institutionality and macroeconomic stability that make us an attractive country for investment.
“We hope to motivate the entry of new investments into the country and thereby contribute to greater growth not only in our mining but also in the development of a more sustainable and inclusive Chile.
“That is the message we want to convey in this new edition of the PDAC,” he highlighted.
He further emphasized this participation in the fair of exploration and prospection will occur at a special moment, “because we celebrate two decades since the entry into force of the Free Trade Agreement with Canada, host country, with which we agree on the search for greater openness Global trade, the integration of countries and the creation of new opportunities for our peoples.”
“Our goal is clear, we want to know that in Chile you can invest with confidence, because we have companies that supply mining goods and services for the whole development stage, both in exploration, installation and operation,” Riveros added.