Medium-scale mining
Medium-scale mining refers to mining that is larger than artisanal or small-scale mining but smaller than large-scale mining. Its exact definition may vary by country and also between different organizations within a country.
The Chilean mining guild Sociedad Nacional de Minería (SONAMI) defines medium-scale mining as those producing copper in the range of 1,500 to 50,000 metric tons per year.[2] In Peru the law Ley General de Minería defines medium-scale mining as that which has a dayly produce of in the range from 350 to 5,000 metric tons ore concentrate or more processesed ore.[3]
In Chile medium-scale mining is concentrated near roads or other pre-existing infrastructure, and lie thus away from the high Andes where nearly all mines belong to the large-scale mining category.[4][1] For mines with an annual produce of less than 10,000 metric tons a simplified mine closure procedure apply in Chile.[5] State-owned company ENAMI has in its role the puchase of ore from medium and small-scale mining which it does at stabilized prices to avoid volatility.[6][7] There are multiple policies in Chile that tend to group media and small-scale mining together.[8] Medium-scale mining in Chile tend to focus on copper and produced about 4.5% of the copper mined in the country from 2017 to 2021,[9] with Chile being the world's largest producer of copper.[10][11]
Medium-scale mining in Chile has a high rate of success in the environmental impact assessments with 92% from 2017 to 2022.[12] Yet these these aprovals last each for a few years as projects submitted by medium-scale mining involve short time-frames.[13] A 2017 study show that medium-scale mining in Chile is 23% less efficient in its use of water relative to large-scale mining.[14] Medium-scale mining has been suggested to be in favourable conditions to apply environmental techniques such as dry tailings relative to large-scale mining.[14]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Andrade, Muñoz & Salazar 2025, p. 24.
- ^ Guajardo et al. 2023, p. 13.
- ^ Guajardo et al. 2023, p. 18.
- ^ Andrade, Muñoz & Salazar 2025, p. 4.
- ^ Guajardo et al. 2023, p. 17.
- ^ Ulloa Urrutia et al. 2017, p. 50.
- ^ Scholvin, Sören; Atienza, Miguel. "La formalización de la pequeña minería en Chile: logros y desafíos de la Empresa Nacional de Minería (ENAMI)". Investigaciones Geográficas (in Spanish). 66: 1–13.
- ^ Andrade, Muñoz & Salazar 2025, p. 11.
- ^ Guajardo et al. 2023, p. 22.
- ^ Copper production in 2024 by USGS
- ^ Cifras actualizadas de la minería (Report) (in Spanish). Consejo Minero. 2025-03-01. p. 4.
{{cite report}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ Guajardo et al. 2023, p. 43.
- ^ Guajardo et al. 2023, p. 44.
- ^ a b Ulloa Urrutia et al. 2017, p. 188.
Bibliography
[edit]- Guajardo, Juan Carlos; Marañón, Matías; Ciudad, Juan Cristóbal; del Mauro, Bastián; Nicolás, Muñóz; Fiorella, Ulloa (2023). Caracterización de la mediana minería en Chile [Characterization of medium-scale mining in Chile] (PDF) (Report) (in Spanish). Centro de Estudios y Documentación Mineros de SONAMI.
- Andrade, Sebastián; Muñoz, Felipe; Reinaldo, Salazar (2025). Distritos productivos para el desarrollo de la minería chilena [Productive districts for the development of mining in Chile] (Report) (in Spanish). Centro de Estudios y Documentación Mineros de SONAMI.
- Ulloa Urrutia, Alfie; Contreras Biekert, José Luis; Gana Aravena, Joaquín; Miranda Toledo, Rodrigo; Chauveau Gerber, Paul; Villalobos Valenzuela, Fernando; Farías Soto, Javiera (2017). Productividad en la Gran Minería del Cobre (in Spanish). Comisión Nacional de Productividad. ISBN 978-956-7725-08-3.