Chile's Role as a Global Hub for Copper and Nitrates

One of my blog readers [David Kelley, professional Geologist] commented on the importance of mining in Chile to the country as well as to the rest of the world, so I decided to present more information about this topic. Mining is important to our lives as we know it today and will likely become even more important in the future.

As you may know, minerals are essential components of a variety of products, including energy technologies of the future such as solar, wind, energy storage, and electric vehicles. The US is falling behind in mining critical minerals, despite having abundant reserves, and is virtually absent from the global supply chains for many minerals. The regulations of mining activities in the US are extensive and have been developed to govern current mining operations, as well as to guide the cleanup of historical ones. However, these regulations are threatening the end product production and creating the need for additional imports. Notice the decrease in production in recent years, verses the increase in value.

The United States was the world's fourth largest copper producer, with the majority of its copper production coming from states such as Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, and Montana. In 2017, the US produced 1.27 million metric tonnes of copper, worth $8 billion, and had 45 million tonnes of known remaining reserves of copper, the fifth largest known copper reserves in the world. Copper mining activity has faced opposition, delays, or rejection in recent years. So, the US needs to build more mines and expand existing mines to break China's dominance in critical minerals if we are going to meet our growing needs without importing from other nations.

In the United States, copper is mainly used in construction (43%) and electric equipment (19%). The US is increasingly dependent on foreign sources for critical minerals, and the global demand for these minerals is set to skyrocket by 400-600 percent over the next decade, with even higher increases for minerals used in electric vehicle batteries. Note that the average gasoline powered car requires 20kg of copper, hybrids require 40kg, and fully electric cars can require as much as 80kg of copper per vehicle.

In Chile, mining is a crucial component of the overall economy, and copper exports alone stand for more than one third of government income, with the majority of its copper exports being sent to China. In 2022, Chile's copper mine production represents about 24% of the global production. The Atacama Desert in Chile is known for its vast mineral wealth, including copper, gold, silver, nitrates, lithium, potassium, and iodine. The region is home to the world's largest open-pit copper mine, Chuquicamata, which has been in operation since 1910 and produces 650,000 metric tons of copper annually.

Chile's position as the world's top copper producer is partly due to the Humboldt Current, which began flowing north along the western coast of South America about 15 million years ago, bringing frigid Antarctic water north and changing the climate of South America. This change in climate led to the formation of the Atacama Desert, the driest in the world, which is also home to nitrate deposits (a highly sought-after fertilizer). Prior to this change, there was a semi-arid climate along the Chilean coast with frequent rainfall followed by dry spells, which was ideal for oxidizing copper deposits. The frequent rains moved the copper down to the groundwater table, forming supergene-enriched copper deposits. The net effect of these supergene processes is to move metal ions from the leached zone to the enriched zone, increasing the concentration there to levels higher than in the unmodified primary zone below, producing a deposit worth mining. This process(removal of moisture), in the area of the Chilean created part of the largest area of copper preservation in the world.

Chile has much more to offer than we initially thought, especially in terms of its role as a significant supplier of highly sought-after minerals. Today's enrichment lecture highlighted the historical sites in Chile that attract tourists from around the world. Tomorrow, we look forward to exploring Valparaiso, Chile, where we will learn more about the fertile region between Chile's coastal mountains and the Pacific Ocean, known as the Casablanca Valley.