Analysis-Argentina’s copper dreams need infrastructure

Written by Lucila Siggal

Saint Juan (Reuters) -Arginina is carried by rich copper deposits in the mountain north along the Chilean border, but unlike its mining neighbor, the power generation lines and the necessary methods of new projects supported by mines such as BHP and Rio Tinto have not created.

president Javier Millie’s campaign to intervene inflation and religion means that the country of South America opposes greater challenges than most countries to build the infrastructure that mines need all over the world.

Unconventional ideas, such as sharing infrastructure between miners or paying them with royalties, are likely to be part of the solution.

“The government said it will not provide any funding, but this does not mean that it is not responsible for the completion of matters,” said Roberto Kacola, head of the Argentina Mining Chamber, who urges the authorities to intensify efforts to ensure the construction of the infrastructure.

Argentina has exported gold, silver and lehium, but has not produced copper since 2018.

The Millie administration, as well as conservatives who control local development, belongs to copper to help stabilize the volatile economy in the country, just as mining companies around the world seek to enhance production to cover the supply gap that waved on the horizon of minerals widely used in electric and electrical vehicles.

A federal official said that the government is evaluating the country’s infrastructure needs and identifying the ways in which the private sector can play a role.

Eight copper projects in Argentina can reach a total value of mining export to $ 15.4 billion by 2030, according to government expectations.

This would exceed the Triple number last year and make the sector one of the largest net foreign exchange owners in the country. Copper projects alone can emerge of $ 5.2 billion by 2030, if they reach the government to produce 521,000 metric tons annually.

Copper projects in the northern province of San Juan, which some call “Faka Muirta from copper”, is a reference to the oil and shale gas field in Argentina, the size of Belgium.

San Juan was a compensation program in 2022 that can help build infrastructure. It allows for mining companies that develop road or energy infrastructure with mining royalties if legislators in the province see that the project is a “general benefit”. Miners usually pay royalties to governments.

The director of Argentina in Vikna Jose Moriah said that the Vikka project, from the Global Mine BHP and Londin in Canada, hopes to use the ruling.

He said in an interview, “This speeds up the investments in which the private sector is currently in a position that allows it to work … which may have to postpone the boycott government,” he said in an interview.