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Chile

This Month

Copper inventories in the US are likely to hit 500,000 tons in the coming weeks.

World’s largest copper producer says Trump’s tariffs are causing ‘anxiety’

The chairman of Chile’s state-owned Codelco says the US president’s announcement of 50 per cent tariffs has generated confusion in the industry.

BHP operates Escondida, the world’s biggest copper mine, in the desert of Northern Chile

Trump’s copper tariffs will backfire on the US

The administration wants to “bring copper production home”, but the most likely result is that manufacturers will have little choice but to pay more for it.

June

Argentinian president Javier Milei lays out his vision of geopolitics in Davos.

Milei goes for broke in Argentina

The South American country’s president offers a radical experiment in economic therapy for a nation in desperate financial straits.

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Trump-Musk feud goes nuclear; KWM’s cautionary China tale; Joe Aston on Planet Ark

Read everything that’s happened in the news so far today.

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GDP misses forecasts; ASIC sues Westpac; The big Virgin IPO question

Read everything that’s happened in the news so far today.

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Jennifer Hewett, Escondida president Alejandro Tapia and Australian ambassador to Chile Andrew Martin at Escondida

BHP’s monumental copper pay and play in Chile

The world’s largest copper mine shows how intertwined the fortunes of Australia’s big miners are with what’s happening with critical minerals.

May

Lithium-rich brine is pumped into evaporation ponds in Chile.

Rio Tinto strikes $1.4b Chilean lithium deal with Codelco

The company will invest in the Salar de Maricunga project as it focuses on reducing its dependence on iron ore.

Winner of the Eurovision Song Contest JJ from Austria holds up the trophy he won with the song “Wasted Love”.

Austria wins Eurovision crown with pop-opera song ‘Wasted Love’

The win was Austria’s third in the competition, following Conchita’s success and Udo Juergens’ victory in 1966.

Vineyards in Mendoza province, Argentina. Javier Milei’s deregulation has revived interest in copper mining in the Andean foothills.

Malbec country turns back to mining

Mendoza, a province best known for its Malbec, could open a new mine in a nationwide rush for the red metal under President Javier Milei.

April

Astronomers find strongest evidence yet of alien life

Scientists have discovered a distant planet covered with a warm ocean that may be teeming with microbial activity in what they called a “revolutionary” moment.

March

Soyabean farming in Brazil. US farmers are worried about China’s diversification of suppliers.

Tariffs will bring ‘nothing but pain’ to rural America, farmers say

Farmers expressed particular concern about the impact of retaliatory tariffs, saying they will restrict their access to some of the US’s most important export markets.

January

Cabanas at Bondi Beach on Australia Day.

When did Sydney’s beaches start looking like campgrounds?

Call me an old hippie, but I still believed that respect for our hallowed coastline extended beyond not littering to keeping visual pollution to a minimum as well.

December 2024

Pope Francis during the ceremony in  St. Peter’s Basilica at The Vatican at the weekend.

Australian-based bishop among Pope’s new cardinal picks

At 44 years of age, Mykola Bychokthe, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Melbourne, is also the youngest cardinal.

November 2024

There’s a dearth of copper exposures on the ASX.

Craving copper? $502m miner Marimaca preps ASX listing

Sources said CEO Hayden Locke has been encouraged by TSX-listed $C7.5 billion Capstone Copper’s ASX listing earlier this year and sees it as a template for Marimaca.

October 2024

Citi expects the lithium price to rebound next year.

Pilbara Minerals cuts lithium output, suspends plant

The miner is scaling back to endure the lithium price slump, cutting annual output and icing operations at its Ngungaju facility.

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September 2024

Alberto Fujimori, centre, is driven out of prison by one of his lawyers, accompanied by his son Kenji, left, after his release in December last year.

Peru’s Fujimori, divisive head of a political dynasty, dies age 86

During his decade in power, he revived the economy and crushed two leftist insurgencies. But he was forced out in a corruption scandal and later imprisoned.

August 2024

The Escondida copper mine is the world’s biggest.

Strike at BHP-owned mine ends as workers win $48,000 bonus

BHP had previously offered a $US28,900 bonus per worker, compared with the union’s demand of 1 per cent of shareholder dividends from the mine.

Stacked cathodes at BHP Billiton’s giant Escondida copper mine in northern Chile.

Strike hits BHP’s biggest copper mine

Workers walked off the job at the Escondida mine in Chile that produces about 5 per cent of the world’s mined copper.

China

Bad news for Australia: China’s steel crisis is set to deepen

Prices are tumbling, profits are dwindling, and there’s little relief on offer from a government focused on retooling China’s economy for the long term.

Albemarle boss Kent Masters at the company’s lithium hydroxide plant at Kemerton in WA.

Albemarle sounds warning on critical minerals processing

The US-based firm’s decision to reduce output from its lithium hydroxide plant and write down much of its investment demonstrates the flaws in Australia’s plan for greater domestic processing of critical minerals.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/chile-893