Chile’s Chamber of Deputies has approved a proposal of a 3pc mining royalty for all companies that extract and produce copper and lithium.
The proposed tax will be applied to the nominal value of extracted metals, the Chamber of Deputies said, adding that the royalty must be used for development work of communities in the areas where these minerals are extracted.
The new royalty will be paid annually to the government while the mining concession is in force, the chamber indicated without disclosing further details on the amounts to be taxed or when the proposal would be sent to the Senate.
This new mining royalty will not be required for operators who extract annual amounts not exceeding 12,000mt, in the case of copper, and 50,000mt in the case of lithium mining.
Chile’s copper output decreased by 6.2pc to 504,366mt in November 2019, compared to the same month in 2018, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE). Chile is the world’s top copper producer and holds 52pc of total global lithium reserves.