Chile to lease ‘unused’ parts of mining licenses held by top miners to juniors

Despite an increased appetite in copper assets, the rate of new discoveries continues to be low, especially in top world’s producer Chile, where the bulk of exploration is in the hands of major miners.

That is about to change, as the country’s Mining Ministry is set to sign next month the first of many contracts that force major companies to lease to juniors all or part of assets they are not actively developing.

Authorities in four major mining regions will submit at the end of the week a list of mining properties where development is currently stalled, as well as a list of companies that would be willing to participate in this lease-type property transfer, Minería Chilena reports.

Even with the difficulties juniors face in Chile, the country managed to attract 7.6% of the $600 million companies spent on exploration in 2017.

Most of that spending came from majors, including state-owned copper miner Codelco. Juniors, in turn, accounted for 8.8% of the total exploration carried out in the country last year.

Not all discoveries are financially viable. Some have to wait years until it makes sense to start developing them, which doesn’t bode well for the imminent copper supply crunch, experts have warned about this year.

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