Chile and Japan tune up to unlock border mining
28-Nov-2012 Pulso – News
Hernán de Solminihac, Minister of Mining, met with representatives of Jogmec the company supporting Los Helados and Vicuña mines in the Chile-Argentina border
Japanese mining consortium Jogmec, which core activity is resources exploration, has held particular interest in the Chile-Argentina border area. The company has been developing several prospects in the place aimed at finding the Pascua Lama replacement which is, until now, the first and only binational mining development, not only in this border but worldwide.
Until now Jogmec scores a big success in this campaign: Los Helados discovery, a copper deposit with valuable resources and recently transferred to a Japanese private consortium made up by Pan Pacific, owner of Caserones, Mitsui and JX Minerals.
However, the portfolio contains other projects too, for example, Vicuña project. The main assignment of Jogmec – a state-controlled company – is to discover these deposits and measure their resources in order to sell them to private companies or generate the interest of stockholders.
In order to continue moving forward in the development plan in Chile and promoting border mining, some executives of the company met in Tokio with Mining Minister of Chile, Hernán de Solminihac, during his visit to Asia.
Japanese interest
Chilean minister stated in a contact from Japan that most of the meeting was dealing with border mining related issues. “In the exploration jobs Jogmec has made in Chile there are some projects in the border with Argentina. With the intention to analyze the activities they carry out in Chile, amongst other topics, the conversation was also about some projects with border mining characteristics. The recently transferred Los Helados project subject arose. Additionally, the Vicuña exploration project which has a special protocol within the Chile-Argentina mining treaty, was also discussed”, he explained.
Additionally, Jogmec executives have expressed their intention to increase investments in the exploration jobs they are carrying out in Chile and also indicated the country is fundamental to secure the future copper supply to Japan. During the first half of the year and mainly marked by business and subsequent agreement for Los Bronces, Japan provided 43% of the total foreign investment in Chile thus taking by far the first position amongst foreign investors in the country. Besides, the experience the Japanese companies have in mine site closure and remedy for environmental liabilities was also discussed. “The possibility was set to create a cooperation project for know-how and technology transference, especially in the innovation year”, the Chilean Government official added.
