Determinants, Boundaries, and Patterns of Canadian Mining Investments in Latin America (1995–2015)

In: Latin American policy: LAP ; a journal of politics & governance in a changing region, Band 7, Heft 2, S. 195-214

Abstract

As part of the commodities boom that Latin America enjoyed in the first decade of the twenty‐first century, Canadian investments in metal mining expanded there at an extraordinary pace, determined by a larger process of industrial consolidation and long‐term Canadian government policies to support the internationalization of its industry. Their success in Latin America has now induced some observers to believe that Canada is a dominant actor in that region's mining sector, but the specialization of Canadian firms in precious metals, gold and silver, has set up clear boundaries to their regional relevance, rendering Canadian capital necessary but not an essential actor in the Latin American mining boom. In fact, such pattern of specialization has turned the expansion of Canadian mining capital into a significant exposure to Latin American politics that Ottawa's government and diplomacy can affect only marginally.