Energy Advisor

Emilio Castillo, professor in the Mining Engineering Department at the University of Chile: “Minister Williams is a well-known politician in the Chilean mining sector. She was the mining minister during the second term of President Bachelet in 2014-2018. Williams is the mining minister who has lasted the longest in that position in almost 20 years. She is likely to foster a closer relationship with the mining sector after a lengthy discussion of modifying the mineral taxation system in the country and implementing a highly divisive lithium strategy. In the particular case of lithium, Chile has the largest lithium reserves in the world. Still, the ability to transform lithium reserves into mineral production has historically lagged due to the inability of the political sector to get a national agreement on what the role of government should be in this industry. This debate has not been subdued in the face of the energy transition, pressing for more critical minerals for green energy technologies. The role of the new mining minister will be to ensure…”