Recent developments in Latin American mining legislation

摘要

The protectionist economic model, used by many Latin American countries started to change in the 1980s. In the same decade, the globalisation of the economy started, and it became evident that the State was an inefficient administrator and that the market is the best allocator of resources.Several governments in Latin America understood that their mining legislation constituted a valuable instrument of their economic policy, hut that it was insufficient by itself to attract mass investments to mining. In any event, the laws were an essential prerequisite, with an evaluation of a country's mining laws being the third most important factor considered by for-eign investors at the moment of making investment decisions (after geology and political stability).