Chile raises mining investment forecast through 2034 to $105 billion

Reuters | December 11, 2025 | 7:35 am Top Companies Latin America Copper Lithium

BHP seeks copper deals while metal is hot

Escondida mine in Chile. (Image courtesy of Microsoft | BHP.)

Chile’s mining investment is expected to reach $104.549 billion from this year through 2034, state-run agency Cochilco said on Thursday, up 26% from last year’s forecast.

Chile is the world’s largest producer of copper and second-largest of lithium, a key ingredient of rechargeable batteries.

The increase represents the highest investment forecast since the 2016-2025 period.

New investment includes an expansion at BHP’s Escondida, the world’s biggest copper mine, and new concentrators at Collahuasi, a copper mine jointly owned by Anglo American and Glencore.

The 2024–2033 investment portfolio was estimated at $83.181 billion.

“In this portfolio, we are seeing how new copper and lithium projects are consolidating as drivers of future development,” mining minister Aurora Williams said in a presentation of the Cochilco report.

(By Fabian Cambero and Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Gabriel Araujo and Aida Pelaez-Fernandez)