Chile rejects plans to nationalize parts of mining sector
The plan would have transferred lithium and rare metal deposits to the government as part of the country's broad political reorganization.
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Chile's constitutional convention
Chile's constitutional assembly has rejected measures to nationalize sectors of the vital mining industry.
The article 27 plan would have granted the state exclusive mining rights over lithium, rare metals, and hydrocarbons, as well as controlling ownership in copper mines.
However, the initiative was met with tremendous resistance from the mining industry and was defeated last week, ending progressive ambitions of sharing the wealth in the world's top copper-producing nation.
The major goal of the 2019 anti-government rallies that succeeded in forming a constitutional assembly to supervise change was to overthrow the 1980 constitution approved by the rightwing dictator Augusto Pinochet.
Read more: The Original 9/11: How the CIA Orchestrated Chile's Violent Coup
On Saturday, the country's environmental panel voted on many aspects of the article, but none of them received the 103-vote supermajority required to be included in the draft constitution.
A further clause, article 25, requiring miners to set aside "resources to repair damage" to the environment and negative impacts where mining occurs, received a supermajority and will be included in the proposed constitution.
The assembly also agreed to prohibit mining in glaciers, protected areas, and places critical to the protection of the water system.
Articles that guarantee farmer and indigenous peoples the right to traditional seeds, the right to safe and accessible energy, and the protection of the oceans and the climate were also suggested.
After Saturday, voting on articles finishes, and new commissions in charge of fine-tuning the language take over on Monday. The final draft is expected in early July, and residents will vote on whether or not to accept it on September 4th.
The environmental commission, headed by self-proclaimed eco-constituents, got only one of its 40 suggestions adopted during the general assembly's initial voting.
The panel has now softened its ideas, but issues such as expanding protected lands, limiting private water rights, and making climate change mitigation a governmental responsibility are still included in the latest draft.
