First, multiple companies should be allowed to make profits – this would hurt the South American country's central bank.

Argentine President Javier Miley, who wants to build the Latin American country's future on copper mining, is suffering from 300% inflation and strikes, but foreign investors are not flocking in at the moment because they doubt the stabilization program will work.

He added: “I think that Argentina has entered into a crisis of confidence. Although we have huge copper reserves, and although we have plans to use them, we must first create the macroeconomic environment for the ideas to bear fruit,” – this is how the Vice President of the Chamber summed up Mining entrepreneurs up the ante. We already have big foreign partners: Glencore, Lundin, First Quantum, but nothing has started yet, Franco Miniacco said.

the Reuters The reporter asked Lundin, which has the best copper extraction plan, when extraction would begin, but only received the answer that “if conditions improve in this sector, six extraction projects can be started in Argentina. If the necessary permits are obtained, investments can begin.” Medium term. The company confirmed that the Josemaria mine will be able to extract 130,000 tons of copper annually if it operates at full capacity, but there is no specific date for the start of construction.

President Miley: There is no magic solution

The Argentine president, who named his pet dog after Milton Friedman, head of the neoliberal school in Chicago, was forced to admit that he did not have a magic wand. The economic head of state, whom Donald Trump admires, took power in Argentina in December, where inflation is breaking records and he is constantly negotiating with the International Monetary Fund over the terms of necessary stability. In practice, this means an austerity package, against which unions protest with strikes and demonstrations.

The central bank ran out of currency reserves to the point where the head of state had to impose capital controls. He had previously planned to introduce the dollar instead of the peso in Argentina, but was dissuaded by both the IMF and the USA. The main opponent is still inflation, which has reached 300% annually, and although it is slowly decreasing, it still represents an unbearable burden on families and the entire economy, as it is very difficult to plan for the future.

President Milley has already submitted a comprehensive plan to Congress, according to which large foreign capital investments, exceeding $200 million, will receive significant tax breaks.

“This is a good idea, but it does not solve the problem, as the foreign investor still has to rely on central control of capital flow, that is, the fact that he cannot take his profits outside the country,” he said. ReutersHe is deputy director of the consulting company Poliarquia.

Provinces interested in copper mining are not waiting for the law to be issued, but are taking matters into their own hands, because they are in dire need of money. “Our goal is to start copper mining plans as quickly as possible,” stressed the Minister of Mining of San Juan Province. Copper reserves are the largest in this region. The province expects $3 billion of that amount by 2030.

The problem is that setting up a copper mine and building the connected railway requires huge sums of money: First Quantum's Taka Taka project, for example, costs $3.6 billion.