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The local mining sectorhighlights the conditions to invest

March 9, 2021 - 02:18 Salta was positioned as the best destination in South America foractivity, the province ranked 23rd in the world ranking prepared by the FraserInstitute.

View of theLindero gold deposit (located in Tolar Grande) that is about to enter fullproduction.

In the last week of February theannual publication of the Canadian institute Fraser report ranked Salta as thebest positioned place for mining investments in South America. Thequalification of the international organization, which is the most prestigiousamong businessmen in the sector, was celebrated both by the provincialgovernment and among firms that are already developing their projects in Salta.

"Undoubtedly, the investmentattraction index achieved this year by the province in the report carried outby the Fraser Institute is very good news because it reflects the vision thatinvestors have about our region in terms of mining," he highlighted indialogue with El Tribuno the vice president of the SaltaChamber of Mining, Facundo Huidobro.

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Salta was ranked 23rd in the confidence index to invest within 77 mining destinations. The ranking was developed after a survey of around 2,200 activity benchmarks worldwide,between August and November last year.

"For previous years the region was mainly evaluated for exploration purposes, but in recent years one more step was climbed and today the demand of the mining investor is to invest more production than exploration," Huidobro explained.

In 2016 Salta was ranked 43rd on the Fraser list; in 2017 it ranked 45th; in 2018 he backed 70th(mainly because of the crisis with the country's international creditors) and in 2019 placed 36th.

"This achievement is the product of maintaining the rules of play and legal certainty for years in the province of Salta through different provincial governments," the business leader added.

Among the points taken into account in the Fraser report to develop its index is the valuation of mining policies in the different places where the activity takes place. In that item,Salta is the best ranked in the country and overall placed 21st with a score of 87.87 out of 100. Respondents showed less concern about the availability of labor and skills in the province, the geological databaseand its socio-economic and community agreements in the mining area.

The policy factors examined include uncertainty regarding the administration of current regulations, environmental regulations, regulatory duplication, the legal system and tax regime, uncertainty regarding protected areas and disputed land claims, infrastructure, socioeconomic and community development conditions,trade barriers, political stability and labor regulations.

The Minister of Production and Sustainable Development of the Province,Martín de los Ríos, emphasized that Fraser's selection "generates more responsibility to maintain the place obtained".

Meanwhile, the Secretary of Mining,Ricardo Alonso, argued that the purpose is "to keep the rules clear, to give legal certainty to the investors present and to consolidate a policy that ensures the socio-economic development of the province".

Advances and setbacks

With respect to the region,Chile, which knew how to be in the top 10 in investmentappeal, decayed to 30th place and Peru climbed to 34th. Argentina, which is valued by provincial districts, on average improved and reached fifth place in attractiveness within Latin America.

Despite improvements in almost every jurisdiction in the country, some of the provinces are also among the least attractive in the world according to their policies for mining development, such as Chubut which ranked 76th, Mendoza (73rd) and La Rioja (68).

Improvements

The provincial government committed to mining companies the installation of two police posts in Puna salteña.
A meeting held by local authorities with representatives of different mining firms last week agreed to arrange a police post in the Tincalayu site area (in the Salar del Hombre Muerto, on the border with Catamarca) and in Olacapato, where the mining logistics node that will build the province will be located.
The logistics node will have an area of 403 hectares with comprehensive services for the mining industry based in Puna.
For these facilities, the National Civil Aviation Administration is managed to design a project to build an airstrip and take-off of aircraft in the vicinity of the solar plant that is deployed in the town of Olacapato.