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| Exploration in Latin America |
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Over US$1,900 million was invested in mining exploration in Latin America during the 2009 year; an amount that maintains this zone as the most attractive investment sector in the world, a privilege that it has held since 1994. Last year, of the US$7,320 million that was invested for this activity, 26% went to this region, marking the highest percentage since 2001.
According to the Metals Economics Group of Canada, within the top ten countries in the field, the first position at the regional level, and the third position in the World, is held by Perú, a country that has improved its ranking from the sixth place it held in the year 2008. México follows this country, and while it fell overall from fourth to sixth place, it remains as the second preference in the region. Next is Chile which has remained as the seventh preferred global location for the activity and finally Brazil, which is positioned in ninth place. These nations, together with Argentina, which is also discovering its mining potential and seeks to get closer to the top, cover 82% of the total investment in Latin America.
These auspicious results do not mean that the industry should stop looking for new potential opportunities. On the contrary, it is imperative to continue working on the conversion of resources into reserves, given international expectations. Just one fact: Analysts estimate that the worldwide demand for copper will increase annually by 3%, ie, between 500,000 tons and 550,000 tons until the year 2020, which requires better organization and more effective tools for exploration. There are also other regions that have enhanced their appeal. Just Canada and the United States cover 23% of total investment in this industry.
Latin America leads the world in the production of iron, copper and silver, and also, it is among the largest producers of aluminum, molybdenum, lead, zinc, manganese and tin. There are also large reserves of non-metallic minerals such as iodine, lithium, nitrates, borates and potassium chloride, among others.
To enable them to maintain these advantages, they must continue to build stable regulatory framework to ensure mining development in the long term, allowing exploratory activity and promoting financing mechanisms not only for large mining, but for those enterprises that for their size are good business, as well as yet another scale, as is the case of junior companies.
In the region there are currently hundreds of projects and mining prospects at various stages. Governments must ensure that the vast majority of them will be successful and materialize, benefiting not only their shareholders but also the communities that host them.
Events like the annual convention of the Canadian PDAC or the International Conference of Cesco Explorations (Chile) are excellent opportunities so that the industry, community and regulatory agencies are aware of trends in exploration and can debate them.
Forums like these are relevant and unavoidable, since Latin America's future progress will be necessarily linked to good management of natural resources, such as in this case, minerals.
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