The South American country of Chile has like most countries a range of natural resources within its borders. These natural resources are used both internally within manufacturing and are also exported in their raw state, and play a large role in the development of the country, bringing in investment and money.

Chile is a relative rich country in terms of minerals, and indeed is the world’s largest producer of copper. It is perhaps only natural then that Chile is also home to the world’s largest copper company, the state owned CODELCO, a company which has indicated that Chile still has enough reserves of copper to continue producing at current rates for a further two hundred years.

Copper though is not the only mineral resource that is present in Chile, and in particular the output of gold and silver has increased in recent years. Mining also produces coal, iron, kaolin, gypsum, quartz, zinc, Bentonite, Selenium and Rhenium.

Mineral resources though are not the only natural resources present in Chile, and although not as renowned for lumber production as countries like Brazil, Chile itself though has the second largest timber production industry in South America. Chile’s forest regions are temperate forests, as opposed to rainforests, made up of southern beeches and laurels. It is an industry that provides huge amounts of wood chips and pulp for export. The sustainability of this industry though is in question, and large proportions of the original forest areas have already been logged with no replanting.

Chile has started to invest in hydropower in recent years, and through making use of the natural resource, Chile will create jobs, as well as carbon credits, something needed to offset the pollution caused in the extraction of copper and also manufacturing.

The other major natural resources to be found in Chile relate to the plant and animal life within its boundaries, with agriculture and fishing both important industries for the country. A favourable climate across large areas of Chile means that fruits and vegetables can be grown all year around. The production of fresh fruit makes up Chile’s second biggest export material, after copper. The growing conditions also mean grapes can be successfully grown, leading to the production of popular Chilean wine. Productive Chilean waters also produce large quantities of salmon, crustaceans and molluscs for export.

The natural resources of Chile have in recent years started to be utilised to their full potential, although there is of course a finite amount of minerals and wood that can be used. These natural resources though have been used to create a stable economy, allowing for the development of other industries.