Chile's mining industry welcomes agreement on drafting new constitution

The agreement reached by political parties on a process to draw up a new constitution for Chile was well received by the mining industry.

“We are confident that the proposed design will allow us to adequately represent the majority forces in the country and guide the debate in the constituent body thinking about the future of Chile and the drafting of a magna carta that unites the country and lays the foundations for the leap to development,” Jorge Riesco, president of national mining association Sonami, said in a statement.

The first attempt to draw up a new constitution, in a process agreed following social unrest in late 2019, was rejected in a referendum on September 4.

Fifty councilors to be elected in April will draft the document. The councilors will be assisted by 24 experts and a technical committee appointed by congress.

“As a mining trade group, we make ourselves available to the new body to support issues related to the sector,” said Miguel Zauschkevich, president of the chamber of mines.

The association of industrial mining suppliers (Aprimin) said in a release that “the maturity of the people of Chile that was seen in the exit referendum on September 4, will have another opportunity to pronounce itself, which will undoubtedly be taken into account by the new members to propose a text that unites us more as a country ... and gives us peace, security and legal certainty to invest, the only way for Chile to continue on the path of growth,” said Sergio Hernández, its executive director.

Andrónico Luksic, director of Antofagasta Minerals and several other large companies, commented on his Twitter account: “It’s good news that an agreement has been reached. It is to be hoped that this spirit and the level of dialogue achieved will be maintained to see if this time we are capable, as a country, of reaching a good new constitution”.

The draft must be finished by October 21 and will be subject to a referendum on November 26 next year.