Medium-scale mining
Medium-scale mining refers to mining that is larger than artisanal or small-scale mining but smaller than large-scale mining. Its exact definition may vary by country and also between different organizations within a country.
The Chilean mining guild Sociedad Nacional de Minería (SONAMI) defines medium-scale mining as those producing copper in the range of 1,500 to 50,000 metric tons per year. In Peru the law Ley General de Minería defines medium-scale mining as that which has a dayly produce of in the range from 350 to 5,000 metric tons ore concentrate or more processesed ore.
In Chile medium-scale mining is concentrated near roads or other pre-existing infrastructure, and lie thus away from the high Andes where nearly all mines belong to the large-scale mining category. For mines with an annual produce of less than 10,000 metric tons a simplified mine closure procedure apply in Chile. State-owned company ENAMI has in its role the puchase of ore from medium and small-scale mining which it does at stabilized prices to avoid volatility. There are multiple policies in Chile that tend to group media and small-scale mining together. Medium-scale mining in Chile tend to focus on copper and produced about 4.5% of the copper mined in the country from 2017 to 2021, with Chile being the world's largest producer of copper.
Medium-scale mining in Chile has a high rate of success in the environmental impact assessments with 92% from 2017 to 2022. Yet these these aprovals last each for a few years as projects submitted by medium-scale mining involve short time-frames. A 2017 study show that medium-scale mining in Chile is 23% less efficient in its use of water relative to large-scale mining. Medium-scale mining has been suggested to be in favourable conditions to apply environmental techniques such as dry tailings relative to large-scale mining.
References
Bibliography
- Guajardo, Juan Carlos; Marañón, Matías; Ciudad, Juan Cristóbal; del Mauro, Bastián; Nicolás, Muñóz; Fiorella, Ulloa (2023). Caracterización de la mediana minería en Chile [Characterization of medium-scale mining in Chile] (PDF) (Report) (in Spanish). Centro de Estudios y Documentación Mineros de SONAMI.
- Andrade, Sebastián; Muñoz, Felipe; Reinaldo, Salazar (2025). Distritos productivos para el desarrollo de la minería chilena [Productive districts for the development of mining in Chile] (Report) (in Spanish). Centro de Estudios y Documentación Mineros de SONAMI.
- Ulloa Urrutia, Alfie; Contreras Biekert, José Luis; Gana Aravena, Joaquín; Miranda Toledo, Rodrigo; Chauveau Gerber, Paul; Villalobos Valenzuela, Fernando; Farías Soto, Javiera (2017). Productividad en la Gran Minería del Cobre (in Spanish). Comisión Nacional de Productividad. ISBN 978-956-7725-08-3.