The Chilean mining sector recognizes that Argentina advanced in 18 months what they did not achieve in a decade.
One of the most emblematic examples is the Vicuña project, which involves an investment of 18 billion dollars and could become one of the five largest copper mines in the world. “Milei wins that for Argentina, not Chile,” he acknowledged
The success of the Incentive Regime for Large Investments (RIGI) promoted by the Government of Javier Milei in Argentina began to generate concern in Chile, where leaders of
The mining sector warns that they are lagging behind the new attractive Argentine investor.The president of the Chilean Mining Chamber, Manuel Viera Flores, published a harsh document in which he not only praised the Argentine model, but also issued a strong warning: “Without fiscal stability for 20 or 30 years, we don't compete with the Argentine RIGI.”
According to the businessman, while Argentina managed to approve 12 projects in just 18 months for about 26 billion dollars, Chile barely advanced with initiatives worth 62 million, which shows an increasingly wide gap. “The scale of the urgency does not match the scale of the response,” he said, marking the lack of reaction in the trans-Andean country
.
Viera assured that Chile “lost a decade” and that, although it is going in the right direction, it is doing so with insufficient speed in the face of the Argentine advance. In this regard, he stressed that RIGI represents “the first time in decades that a South American country offers a truly competitive fiscal framework
at the global level.”The impact of the new scheme is already reflected in the arrival of major international players such as BHP, Rio Tinto, Lundin Mining and First Quantum Minerals, who began betting on projects in Argentina attracted by fiscal stability, the free availability of foreign exchange and clear long-term rules.
In addition, the leader stressed that Argentina raised more than 33.8 billion dollars in projects under the RIGI in just a year and a half, of which 73% corresponds to copper mining. In comparison, Chile failed to achieve that volume of investment over the last decade.
The contrast is also evident in the lithium sector. While Chile was debating its production model, Argentina made rapid progress and managed to attract multi-million dollar investments in the so-called “Lithium Triangle”, positioning itself to surpass its neighbor in production in the
coming years.Faced with this scenario, the Chilean mining sector is already talking openly about the need to replicate the Argentine model. “Chile urgently needs its own RIGI,” said Viera, who insisted that they must adopt principles such as fiscal stability, regulatory simplicity and a state commitment not to change the rules of the game
.Meanwhile, the model promoted by Milei is consolidating itself as a success story in the region, attracting historic investments and repositioning the country as a new global hub for the development of strategic resources.
