TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Canada's export credit agency has provided a $200-million loan to Chilean State-owned copper-miner Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile (Codelco), to encourage the purchase of Canadian equipment, technology and services.

“Canada is the largest investor in Chile’s mining sector and Export Development Canada’s financing is designed to help Canada maintain this competitive edge in the region,” said EDC senior vice-president for business development Benoit Daignault.

“Over the past five years, EDC financing to Codelco has helped promote more than C$750-million worth of purchases from Canada, involving nearly 150 suppliers of everything from engineering services to environmental technologies,” he said.

EDC recently organised a trade mission into Canada for Codelco executives to meet with Canadian suppliers and investors, the agency said in a statement on Tuesday.

Codelco, the world's biggest copper producer, plans to invest more than the equivalent of C$11,5-billion over the next decade, to expand its production capacity.

Canada is the third-largest foreign foreign investor in Chile, according to the EDC.

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