Proposal for Strengthening of Smelting-Refinery Capacity in Chile—Chuquicamata Workers’ Union Codelco Chile

The need to strengthen the capacity of foundries and refineries in Chile is based essentially on the fact that Chile has a strategic responsibility to solve this public problem, because Chile is and will be the largest copper producer in the world. The great development of foundries and refineries in China has led them to have the lowest treatment and refining charges in history, with no other competitor. In addition, the fact that there is only one country dominating the smelting and refining process becomes a geopolitical challenge, not only for Chile, but for the whole world. On the other hand, greater environmental requirements will be established for the transfer, stacking and maritime transport of the concentrate, than in the case of the Northern District of Codelco Chile, where complex concentrates (arsenic content) are produced. This will mean that Chile, with the export of concentrates of this quality, loses control in the management of the carbon footprint. By the mere fact of exporting concentrates, Chile loses economic resources by not smelting and refining, losing the great profit associated with the by-products, which are highly appreciated for their variety and metallurgical richness. In the development of this proposition, we will analyse various alternatives to determine which is the most suitable and will allow achievement of the desired refinery capacity of 750 ktpa of cast copper. This would increase the current smelting capacity, reducing the surplus of complex concentrates high in arsenic. The objective is that this new “complementary” smelting complex within the Chuquicamata district in close proximity to the electrolytic refinery and associated plants, could provide an additional capacity of between 1.2 and 1.3 Mtpa of smelted concentrate, to reach a total of 2.35 Mtpa.