'''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. Some criteria are based on the yearly man-hours employed in the mining operation and others on either the total mass ore extracted, the mass of metal (or non-metallic mineral) extracted or the dry-equivalent mass of ore concentrate produced.
==Definitions== 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.{{sfn|Guajardo|Marañón|Ciudad|del Mauro|2023|p=13}} For the mining of other metals and non-metallic mining SONAMI's definition of medium-scale mining is based on equivalents on the tonnage that defines medium-scale copper mining.{{sfn|Guajardo|Marañón|Ciudad|del Mauro|2023|p=13}} For Chile's National Geology and Mining Service medium-scale mining is that which employ between 1 million and 200 thousand man-hours per year, which is equivalent to a full-time workforce of between 80 and 400 persons.{{sfn|Guajardo|Marañón|Ciudad|del Mauro|2023|p=14}} For Chilean state-owned company Empresa Nacional de Minería (ENAMI) medium-scale mining is different from the small scale mining in that it has a monthly produce of exceeding one of the following; 300 metric tons of dry copper concentrate, 150 metric tons of dry gold-silver concentrate, 100 metric tons of dry copper precipitate or else a total produce of 10,000 metric tons of mineral.{{sfn|Guajardo|Marañón|Ciudad|del Mauro|2023|p=14}} The Chilean Copper Commission uses a definition offered by the Instituto de Ingenieros de Minas de Chile in 1990 which considers medium-scale mining as those mining companies producing between 3,000,000 and 100,000 metric tons of copper yearly (8,000 to 300 dayly).{{sfn|Guajardo|Marañón|Ciudad|del Mauro|2023|p=15}} 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.{{sfn|Guajardo|Marañón|Ciudad|del Mauro|2023|p=18}}
==Medium-scale mining in Chile== {{Location map+|Chile|float=right|width=200|caption=Location of mining disctrics in Chile where medium-scale mining is dominant.{{sfn|Andrade|Muñoz|Salazar|2025|p=24}}|places= <!-- North-East--> {{Location map~ |Chile |label=Chañaral |relief=yes |lat=-26.344444 |long=-70.621944 |position=left |width=100 |label_width=8 |float=right |mark=Cercle rouge 100%.svg |marksize=15 |caption=Locationx }} {{Location map~ |Chile |label=Copiapó |relief=yes |lat=-27.366389 |long=-70.333056 |position=left |width=100 |label_width=8 |float=right |mark=Cercle rouge 100%.svg |marksize=15 |caption=Locationx }} {{Location map~ |Chile |label=Huasco |relief=yes |lat=-28.466389 |long=-71.219167 |position=left |width=100 |label_width=8 |float=top |mark=Cercle rouge 100%.svg |marksize=15 |caption=Locationx }} {{Location map~ |Chile |label=Andacollo |relief=yes |lat=-30.230278 |long=-71.085833 |position=left |width=100 |label_width=8 |float=top |mark=Cercle rouge 100%.svg |marksize=15 |caption=Locationx }} }} In Chile medium-scale mining (Spanish: ''mediana minería'') 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.{{sfn|Andrade|Muñoz|Salazar|2025|p=4}}{{sfn|Andrade|Muñoz|Salazar|2025|p=24}} For mines with an annual produce of less than 10,000 metric tons a simplified mine closure procedure apply in Chile.{{sfn|Guajardo|Marañón|Ciudad|del Mauro|2023|p=17}} ENAMI has in its role the purchase of ore from medium and small-scale mining which it does at stabilized prices to avoid volatility.{{sfn|Ulloa Urrutia|Contreras Biekert|Gana Aravena|Miranda Toledo|2017|p=50}}<ref name=soren>{{Cite journal |title=La formalización de la pequeña minería en Chile: logros y desafíos de la Empresa Nacional de Minería (ENAMI) |journal=Investigaciones Geográficas |last=Scholvin |first=Sören |volume=66 |pages=1–13 |last2=Atienza |first2=Miguel |language=es}}</ref> There are multiple policies in Chile that tend to group media and small-scale mining together.{{sfn|Andrade|Muñoz|Salazar|2025|p=11}} 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,{{sfn|Guajardo|Marañón|Ciudad|del Mauro|2023|p=22}} with Chile being the world's largest producer of copper.<ref>[https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2025/mcs2025-copper.pdf Copper production in 2024 by USGS]</ref><ref name=cifras>{{Cite report |title=Cifras actualizadas de la minería |date=2025-03-01 |url=https://consejominero.cl/mineria-en-chile/cifras-actualizadas-de-la-mineria/ |publisher=Consejo Minero |page=4 |language=es}}</ref>
Medium-scale mining in Chile has a high rate of success in the environmental impact assessments with an approval rate of 92% from 2017 to 2022.{{sfn|Guajardo|Marañón|Ciudad|del Mauro|2023|p=43}} Yet these approvals last each for a few years as projects submitted by medium-scale mining involve short time-frames.{{sfn|Guajardo|Marañón|Ciudad|del Mauro|2023|p=44}} A 2017 study show that medium-scale mining in Chile is 23% less efficient in its use of water relative to large-scale mining, yet it has been suggested to be in favourable conditions to apply environmental techniques such as dry tailings relative to large-scale mining.{{sfn|Ulloa Urrutia|Contreras Biekert|Gana Aravena|Miranda Toledo|2017|p=188}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==Bibliography== *{{Cite report |title=Caracterización de la mediana minería en Chile |url=https://www.sonami.cl/v2/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/caracterizacion-mm.pdf |trans-title=Characterization of medium-scale mining in Chile|language=es |year=2023 |publisher=Centro de Estudios y Documentación Mineros de SONAMI|last=Guajardo|first=Juan Carlos|first2=Matías|last2=Marañón|first3=Juan Cristóbal|last3=Ciudad|first4=Bastián|last4=del Mauro|first5=Muñóz|last5=Nicolás|first6=Ulloa|last6=Fiorella}} *{{Cite report |title=Distritos productivos para el desarrollo de la minería chilena |url=https://www.sonami.cl/v2/publicaciones/distritos-productivos-desarrollo-mineria-chilena/ |trans-title=Productive districts for the development of mining in Chile|language=es |year=2025 |publisher=Centro de Estudios y Documentación Mineros de SONAMI|last=Andrade|first=Sebastián|first2=Felipe|last2=Muñoz|first3=Salazar|last3=Reinaldo}} *{{cite book|last1=Ulloa Urrutia| first1=Alfie|last2=Contreras Biekert|first2=José Luis|last3=Gana Aravena|first3=Joaquín|last4=Miranda Toledo |first4=Rodrigo|last5=Chauveau Gerber|first5=Paul|first6=Fernando|last6=Villalobos Valenzuela|last7=Farías Soto|first7=Javiera|title=Productividad en la Gran Minería del Cobre|chapter=|year=2017 |pages= |publisher=Comisión Nacional de Productividad|language=Spanish|isbn=978-956-7725-08-3}}
Category:Mining