In 14 March 1991, the Escondida mine was inaugurated. Situated 3,100 metres above sea level in the heart of the Atacama Desert, it is the world's largest copper deposit. With an initial investment of $1.5 billion, Escondida was the largest foreign investment in history up to that point and the first private investment in copper mining since 1971. It is the first offspring of the 1981 Constitutional Organic Law on Mining Concessions (Mining Law).

 

It is striking that, whereas the state produced 85% of Chile's copper in 1981, it now accounts for just 24%, while private mining produces 76%—equivalent to 4.2 million tonnes a year out of a total of 5.5 million.

 

Since then, Chilean and global companies have poured an astonishing $265 billion into mining. By enshrining property rights firmly in this vital sector of the Chilean economy, the Mining Law has transformed mining into the country's most powerful engine of development.

 

Chile has multiplied its copper output sevenfold, from 800,000 tonnes in 1981 to 5.5 million in 2024. Over the same period, mining exports have risen seventeenfold, from $3 billion to $50 billion. Between 2005 and 2024, mining contributed 13% of fiscal revenues—equivalent to $130 billion. The legal certainty provided by the Mining Law has also spurred unprecedented exploration spending of $50 billion.

 

Every major mining company in the world has invested in Chile. BHP, Australia's behemoth and the largest mining firm globally, built the Escondida mine in Antofagasta alongside Britain's RTZ—today the world's biggest copper operation. BHP also owns the Spence mine in Antofagasta and Cerro Colorado in Tarapacá, which together produce 1.5 million tonnes of copper, or 27% of Chile's total. Escondida was discovered on 14 March 1981 by a consortium comprising Utah Minerals and Getty Oil. The find capped a three-year air-and-ground exploration campaign using the most advanced technology available at the time. Once Chile enacted the Mining Law, which safeguarded mining property rights and opened the sector to long-term private investment, backers from Japan, Germany, the United States, Britain and Australia supplied the $1.5 billion needed to develop Escondida. The mine opened exactly ten years after its discovery.

 

Britain's Anglo American (44%), Switzerland's Glencore (44%) and Japan's Japan Collahuasi Resources BV (12%) own Collahuasi, the world's second-largest copper mine after Escondida, which produced 560,000 tonnes of fine copper in 2016. Perched 4,400 metres above sea level amid perpetually snow-capped peaks, it links to its maritime terminal on the Iquique coast via 200 kilometres of pipeline carrying the extracted ore for export.

 

Canada's Teck Resources developed Quebrada Blanca in Tarapacá and Carmen de Andacollo in Coquimbo. Poland's KGHM, alongside Japan's Sumitomo, operates Sierra Gorda in Antofagasta.

 

Chile's leading mining firm, Antofagasta Minerals—65% controlled by the Luksic group—owns the Los Pelambres mine in Coquimbo, as well as Centinela, Zaldívar and Antucoya in Antofagasta.

 

The mining boom has also lifted medium-sized operations, mostly family-owned by Chileans. Together they produce 300,000 tonnes of fine copper annually. Standouts include Minera Tocopilla's investments in Mantos de la Luna by the Izquierdo Menéndez family; Pucobre's Punta del Cobre and El Espino, tied to the Hurtado family; Haldeman Mining's Minera Michilla, owned by the Cardone Solari and Solari Donaggio families; and Minera San Gerónimo's eponymous project, run by the Rendic family.

 

The Constitutional Mining Law has sparked a gold rush as well, quadrupling output from 8 tonnes a year in 1981 to 35 tonnes in 2024 and ranking Chile as the world's 23rd producer.

 

In non-metallic mining, Soquimich—nationalised in 1971—racked up heavy losses for the Chilean state until its privatisation in 1988. Just five years later, in 1993, SQM listed on the New York Stock Exchange. With capital raised from international and domestic markets, SQM swiftly expanded to become the world's top producer of iodine, potassium and lithium.

 

Decree No. 2,886 of 1979, citing "national security", declared three minerals—uranium, thorium and lithium—"strategic" due to their potential nuclear applications. As the Mining Law was being drafted two years later, the Joint Chiefs of Staff insisted these could not be concessioned like other minerals. The ministerial team argued they should be, with strategic concerns addressed through other means, such as a right of first refusal. On 23 April 1981, the mining minister sent the Joint Chiefs a memo making this case. Regrettably, it was rejected.

 

Lithium is now extracted under lease contracts between Corfo—which holds title to the world's richest reserves in the Atacama salt flat—and private firms such as Soquimich and Albemarle, the two largest lithium producers.

 

Lithium is increasingly vital to the global rise of electric mobility. Today SQM exports to 110 countries across five continents and ranks among Chile's most valuable companies.

 

Mining has led the way in adopting cutting-edge technologies. Autonomous drills and trucks, remotely controlled from distant cities like Santiago by young engineers, are now commonplace.

 

Escondida and Spence, among others, will soon operate the world's largest autonomous mining fleet: 85 trucks and 11 drills. Robotisation—embraced by Antofagasta Minerals, Anglo American and others—sharply reduces human risk, boosts productivity and creates opportunities for highly skilled workers in robotics.

 

Mining has also leveraged technology to optimise water management, a critical input for ore processing. Consumption has halved since the 1990s, from one tonne of water per tonne of processed ore to just 0.5 tonnes. To spare traditional groundwater sources in the desert's aquifers, the sector has embraced seawater desalination on a massive scale.

 

BHP's $3.5 billion investment built the Southern Hemisphere's largest desalination plant at Puerto Coloso, south of Antofagasta, supplying 100% of the mine's needs. The facility produces 3,800 litres of industrial water per second, pumped 180 kilometres along 42-inch pipelines—from sea level to 3,100 metres—with intermediate pumping stations and reservoirs to ensure steady flow.

 

Antofagasta Minerals uses 50% desalinated water at Centinela via a 145-kilometre aqueduct traversing the driest desert on earth. Currently 85% of its water is desalinated; by 2026, Antofagasta will be Latin America's first city where all residents rely entirely on seawater desalination.

 

Mining is inherently decentralising. Deposits are scattered far from the capital, unlike many key economic activities. Its biggest impact has been the northern boom: Antofagasta, the global mining capital, boasts Chile's highest per-capita GDP by a wide margin, at $50,000.

 

The sector has spawned powerful supply chains, from private mining ports dominating the north to catering services, high-quality worker camps, explosives manufacturing and air and road transport—among many others—generating wealth, jobs and stability for hundreds of thousands of Chileans.

 

Mining's energy demands have driven major renewable projects, especially in the Atacama Desert. El Romero Solar, a $350 million plant with 776,000 panels across 280 hectares and 200 MW capacity, is Latin America's largest photovoltaic facility and one of the world's top ten.

 

The September 2025 merger between Britain's Anglo American and Canada's Teck Resources will drive major productivity gains. By uniting Collahuasi and Quebrada Blanca under one owner—together with Anglo's Los Bronces, yielding 465,000 tonnes—they will unlock synergies. Globally, the combined copper output of Anglo American and Teck would reach 1.2 million tonnes, making it the world's fourth-largest producer after BHP, Codelco and Freeport-McMoRan.

 

Electromobility and the worldwide shift to clean energy have spiked copper demand, and with production constraints elsewhere, Chile is riding the highest prices in its history.

 

Looking ahead, copper stands to gain from two megatrends: artificial intelligence (AI) and rising military spending.

 

AI is surging copper demand through massive data centres that guzzle electricity—equivalent to 5,000 households per facility. By 2050, the mining industry forecasts a 70% jump in copper needs.

 

Global military spending is climbing from 2.5% to 4% of GDP, nearing Cold War levels. In response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, NATO countries have pledged to triple defence outlays, from 1.2% to 5% of GDP.

 

Mining will thus remain a cornerstone of Chile's growth in the years ahead, anchored in a Mining Law that has solidly and enduringly enshrined property rights.