The Export-Import Bank of Korea (www.koreaexim.go.kr, Chairman EUN, Sung-soo, “Korea Eximbank”) announced on April 2 that it would provide a total of USD 400 million, including USD 240 million in loans and USD 160 million in guarantees, in order to develop a copper mine in Chile, for which LS-Nikko Copper Inc. signed a long-term purchase agreement.

Currently, Canada's largest mining company Teck Resources and a Japanese nonferrous metal company, Sumitomo Metal Mining are jointly implementing the second phase of the Quebrada Blanca Copper Mine Project in the Tarapaca Region of northern Chile by investing a total of $4.7 billion, including $2.5 billion in PF loans.

Export Credit Agencies (ECA) of Korea, Germany, Japan and Canada have committed to provide financing for the project to secure the key mineral for companies of their countries and support their overseas business.

Quebrada Blanca Copper Mine is expected to produce an annual average of 9.46 million tons of copper ore, semi-processed copper ore used as a raw material for smelting, for the next 28 years from 2021.

Upon completion of the project, LS-Nikko Copper will be able to secure a steady supply of about 6 percent of the national annual average import volume of copper ore from the mine, which is approximately 100,000 tons, for the next 10 years.

In recent years, many countries have been fiercely competing to secure copper to gear up for the fourth industrial revolution and rising demand from emerging economies in Asia for expansion of electric capacities and infrastructures.

For these reasons, mine owners are likely to demand buyers to provide financing for mine development in exchange for a long-term purchase agreement.

A Korean Eximbank official said, "We agreed to provide the financing for the project in order to secure the steady supply of copper and to create higher value of the products of Korean companies." He added, “We will continue to make best efforts to secure critical mineral resources for Korean companies, including six key mineral resources, which are 90 percent dependent on imports.”