Chile to triple gold production by 2015 SANTIAGO - According to research undertaken by the state organisation, the Chilean Copper Commission (Cochilco), the country's gold production could triple by 2015, putting the South American nation possibly into the world's top seven global producers. Chile's current gold production is put at 39.2 tonnes, but new developments and expansions - most notably Barrick's Pascua Lama project - could bring output to 103 tonnes by 2015.  Indeed this could even be an underestimation with a number of other potential projects waiting in the wings. Much of Chile's current production is byproduct output from the country's huge copper mining industry, the world's largest, but more recent discoveries of potential gold/copper orebodies high in the Andes, which have been made viable by the big recent increase in the gold price, could mean that the country's output increases substantially in the years ahead.  However the big problem at the moment is the shortage of capital for major gold developments of this type which require billions of dollars to get them on stream. [Read more...]