This year, Chile will be a sponsor of the world’s most important mining exploration convention and over ten public-private bodies will participate in its pavilion. The authorities of ProChile and the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency underlined their commitment to mining suppliers as a way of fostering the export of services and value added.

Ahead of PDAC 2016 – which will take place in Toronto, Canada, between March 6 and 9 – Mining Minister Aurora Williams, the Director of ProChile, Roberto Paiva, the Director of the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency, Vicente Mira, and the Director General of the Foreign Ministry’s Directorate of International Economic Relations (DIRECON), Andrés Rebolledo, headed the kick-off of the Chilean delegation’s participation in this convention.

This year, Chile will have a pavilion with a delegation, headed by Minister Williams, that comprises over ten public-private bodies whose representatives will be promoting the latest products and services for mining exploration and production. In addition, Chile will be a sponsor of the event, the most important in the world for mining exploration and development.

According to Minister Williams, “the reforms implemented by the government of President Michelle Bachelet, principally the tax reform and the resulting new institutional framework for foreign investment, mean that it is necessary to underscore our country’s macroeconomic and political stability  which ensures foreign investors optimum conditions for the development of their businesses here in Chile.”

Minister Williams insisted that “today we are taking this step, with a series of new associative projects that our National Mining Company (ENAMI) will present in Toronto with a view to forming strategic alliances and bringing in investments that will contribute to the development of our industry.”

She concluded her speech by wishing the delegation every success and insisting that, at PDAC 2016, “Chile will showcase itself to the world.”

Chile’s participation

Chile will be presenting six projects of partnership with ENAMI, including four new exploration projects and two that correspond to mid-stage profile and pre-feasibility engineering.

The Director of the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency, Vicente Mira, indicated that PDAC 2016 had been chosen for presenting the new agency through which “for the first time in its history, Chile will have a proactive strategy for attracting the foreign investment we need.”

“We need to bear in mind that today investments in mining are different from ten years ago” and, as a result, “the sector of mining suppliers, research and development and the export of high-quality services in general are areas to which we are committed and where we are working with the Mining Ministry and the High-Grade Program. We need to attract to Chile investment that contributes jobs, training, technology and research and creates local supply chains. We believe that PDAC is the starting point of the road on which, as an agency, we are embarking,” explained Mira.

ProChile’s Director, Roberto Paiva, noted that “at ProChile, we want to see more companies exporting, particularly those SMEs that, as in the case of mining suppliers, offer products and services with a high level of added value. We know we can achieve this goal if we are present in events like PDAC where we can show investors and international mining companies the high quality of the natural, human and technical resources that exist in Chile.”

“Today, for example, our country is a leading supplier of mining products such as hammer drills, portable drilling machines, heavy structures and boilermaking, ancillary blasting equipment and elements for rock fortification and stabilization and also stands out as an exporter of engineering design for copper mining installations, with exports for US$53 million in 2015,” added Paiva.

Similarly, the Director General of DIRECON, Andrés Rebolledo, pointed out that “Chile’s mining industry depends to a large extent on what happens in international markets and this participation in an event of the importance of PDAC is, therefore, very necessary and important. That is why the different ministries have entered into a commitment and worked intensely with private-sector organizations related to mining so that we can participate successfully in this event of great international relevance.”

Finally, a photograph was taken of the official delegation to PDAC 2016 where Chile’s participation will include a Chile Day with activities such as the seminar, Chile, Land of Opportunities.