What are the latest novelties in automation that are arriving to Chile?
Chile is actually leading in some aspects what is happening in the mining industry. Codelco was the first mining company to kick on autonomous haulage truck systems. I don’t think it’s been properly recognized the way Codelco has worked with Komatsu to develop its technology over the last six years and make it real. Now we see this is spreading to Rio and Australia, and we will probably start to see a movement to North America, where they will be competition to Caterpillar.

And Chile is likely to stay as a leader in automation?
This field changes so fast that even being in the lead does not mean you are going to stay there. So, you are going to see very quickly more autonomous haulage trucks in Australia than what we currently have in Chile. Caterpillar will develop their system and apply it around the world, so Chile has to work to stay numer one.

A big problem Chile has is the high price of energy. Could that affect our mining development?
Energy is a very complex matter and in the case of Chile, energy is produced in the south and required in the north, so it’s really difficult since Chile is a long country. One of the areas that the Chilean mining industry should really pay attention to is geothermal energy. There are major opportunities to exploit geothermal energy in the north. There are some areas along the border with Peru that should be exploited, instead of just looking to hydro electricity.

However, Chile is not very likely to innovate in this area.
Part of the problem is that the capital cost associated to geothermal energy is significantly higher, so there is a higher risk associated to this investment. But when you discover it and you have the infrastructure to support it, it is the cheapest energy on the face of the earth, so we need to take risks.

Interview date: 18 October 2012