A new review finds Penco is Chile's only code-defined rare earth resource, but the country still lacks domestic separation capability to become a
Country Profile
Chile
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About Chile
Chile's Ministry of Mining places the country's rare-earth potential in pegmatite-hosted deposits and in clays that hold rare earths by adsorption. The project it names is an ionic-adsorption clay deposit, the ore type mined in southern China for heavy rare earths. USGS lists no separate Chilean production or reserves figures.
The Penco Module near Concepción is that project. Deeply weathered granitoid in the Biobío Region's Coastal Range has left clays carrying heavy rare earths such as dysprosium and terbium, used in high-strength magnets. Aclara Resources is developing it with Chilean-listed CAP, and it carries a measured and indicated NI 43-101 resource.
Its permitting record shows what these projects face. A first environmental application was withdrawn after regulators raised flora and fauna concerns. A revised one was terminated when the forestry agency found undisclosed trees of a vulnerable species. A third, which swapped stream water rights for recycled municipal water, won approval covering the first six years of mining.
Other ground in the same clay belt includes the NeoRe project. Chile's critical-minerals strategy calls rare earths less mature and suggests pilot and scale-up capacity for them. Whether separation and alloy making happen in Chile or abroad is the open question.
Mine Production & Reserves
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REEx Intelligence
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