Chile´s mining minister plans to stop planned mining bill
The new law in regards to royalty payments is not constitutional, in his opinion.
Markus KochSeptember 22, 2026
Chile's Mining Minister Juan Carlos Jobet said Monday that a bill to increase taxes on copper and lithium miners, which is currently being debated by lawmakers, was "unconstitutional," adding that the government of center-right President Sebastian Piñera was against would defend themselves against it. The proposed law, which was introduced in 2018, would impose a 3% mining fee on companies mining and exploring the two metals in the country that is the world's largest producer of copper and has the largest known reserves of lithium. Jobet said at the annual CRU World Copper Conference and CESCO Week that the government was preparing a sweeping proposal for a national mining policy to be presented in the third quarter. The minister said this policy was better suited to both investors and government priorities than an increase in license fees. The proposed tax, to be levied on the face value of the mined metals, would affect copper miners who extract more than 12,000 tons of the metal per year and those who mine 50,000 tons of lithium per year, which is used in batteries for electric cars. Half of the money raised from the license fee would go to a regional convergence fund to finance regional and community development projects. The other half would directly fund projects to mitigate, offset or repair the environmental impact of mining activities in communities near mining projects. Diego Hernández, President of the National Mining Society of Chile (Sonami) and former CEO of the copper giant Codelco, has defended the existing system. In his first tenure a decade ago, Pinera introduced a complicated system of payments that now charges large producers a variable rate on operating profit of up to 14%. "It brings in the same or more (as a tax on sales) and doesn't significantly affect the less competitive mines," Hernández told Reuters in March. Opposition leaders in charge of the bill believe that royalties on copper and lithium produced by companies like BHP and Albemarle would fund regional development projects, responding to growing social and environmental pressures from investors and supply chains. Chile owns about 52% of the world's known lithium reserves. The country aims to make the white metal its second largest mining asset. Lithium is currently the country's fourth largest export.
