The Future of Chile's Copper Industry

April 11, 2017

Chile is the largest copper exporter and holds the world’s greatest proven reserves. However, the industry is facing several challenges: Production fell 3.9% in 2016 because of weak international commodity prices, lower productivity rates, technical challenges, higher labor costs, and increasing conflicts between companies and the communities in which they operate.

In that context, the discussion on “The Future of Copper Mining in Chile” was widely attended by business leaders, economists, and industry representatives.

This was fourth seminar in the series on current events that the Santiago Center organizes periodically in conjunction with Chile’s MIT Club, the MIT Sloan Management Latin America Office, Chile’s Harvard Club, and the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies Regional Office. The panel featured Alejandra Wood, Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Copper and Mining (CESCO); Jorge Gómez, Executive President of Collahuasi; and Oscar Landerretche, President of the Board of Codelco. It was moderated by Luis Felipe Ross, Founding Partner of Matrix Consulting.