LatinNews Daily - 18 May 2026

*Chile’s President José Antonio Kast has announced that Canadian mining company Kinross Gold Corporation will invest approximately US$3bn in total in the Lobo Marte gold mining project in the country’s northern Atacama region. Kast stated that the project will bring “thousands of jobs” to the communes of Copiapó and Tierra Amarilla. Located approximately 170km northeast of Copiapó, the Lobo Marte project has an estimated production potential of around 4.7m gold equivalent ounces and processing capacity of 35,000 tonnes per day. Kast made the announcement during a visit to Atacama, where he also announced a Cl$4.65bn (US$5.13m) investment in tourism in the region, which he described as “the greatest investment in tourism in the history of the region”.