Chilean Copper Smelter Project Drawing Interest From China

  • Enami is studying options for a $1.4 billion plant upgrade
  • Company has signed 16 MOUs including with builders, financiers
Molten copper is poured into molds at a smelter in northern Chile.Photographer: Alejandra Parra/Bloomberg
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Chinese groups are exploring the possibility of participating in a copper smelting project in Chile — some of them in a bid to lock in supplies of a key metal in the energy transition.

Officials from state company Enami and Chile’s government met with authorities and company representatives in China last month to discuss a $1.4 billion project to overhaul Enami’s smelter, new Chief Executive Officer Ivan Mlynarz said in an interview from his Santiago office.