Chile hunts for copper buyers beyond China with US$100 billion mining plan

Chile hunts for copper buyers beyond China with US$100 billion mining planChile’s foreign minister says the copper market is too concentrated, but refining more at home means competing with Chinese smelters3-MIN READ3-MIN0ListenPublished: 5:59am, 23 Jul 2026Updated: 6:02am, 23 Jul 2026Chile wants to widen the group of countries buying its copper and attract about US$100 billion in mining investment over the next decade, its foreign minister said on Wednesday, in the most explicit move yet by the new government in Santiago to reduce its exposure to Chinese demand.“The market is highly concentrated and we need to broaden the number of places that buy our copper,” Francisco Perez Mackenna said at a Bloomberg summit in Singapore, part of a tour through the Asia-Pacific.He said China would remain a very important client because of its industrial capacity, and that global demand should continue to grow further as investment in data centres accelerates.Select VoiceSelect Speed0.8x0.9x1.0x1.1x1.2x1.5x1.75x00:0000:001.00x