a Scioli presidency mean for mining in
Argentina’s current FpV government’s candidate Daniel Scioli is now hot favourite
to take over the job from his current boss and President Cristina Fernández de
Kirchner (CFK) when the big election happens in October (with only Mauricio Macri standing in his way). All polls point to a
Scioli win as the most probable outcome at this stage, with some now showing
that he may even win it in the first round of voting. But what we haven’t done
much of yet is what it might mean for the mining sector of
here at The IKN Weekly). In fact I’ve been holding off a while and waiting
until this weekend to do just that, because Scioli had a long-standing date on
Friday at which he was expected to make a few formal statements on his position
vis-a-vis mining in
The event went off as planned, he deliver the soundbites, here we go.
Here’s a Youtube (16) of Scioli’s press
conference at the International Conference for Mining and Sustainable
Development, held in
on Friday July 17th. Those who know their
political faces will also see that Scioli’s Vice-President ticket candidate,
Carlos Zannini, and the powerful current Minister of Planning Julio de Vido, as
well as
outgoing (retiring) ultra-pro-mining governor Gioja are present at the table.
Along with those more famous faces, also present were either the current
sitting and/or incoming governors of the privinces of Jujuy (Eduardo Fellner),
Mendoza (Francisco Pérez), Catamarca (Lucía Corpacci), La Rioja (Luis Beder
Herrera and Sergio Casas), Neuquén, (Jorge Sapag), Río Negro (Alberto
Weretilneck) and Tierra del Fuego (Rosana Bertone), provinces known
collectively and loosely as “the mining provinces” in Argentina.
There were a couple of mining provinces missing such as Salta, but be in no
doubt that this was an important and carefully staged event that had Scioli and his policies on mining
at its very centre. By the way, the whole shebang was organized by the
“Argentine Development Foundation” (Fundación Desarrollo Argentino),
which is headed by one José Scioli…yup you got it, Daniel’s brother.
microphone so if you want to get the info first-hand have at that Youtube link
(all in Spanish, a chance to brush up on your Castilian with a Southern Cone lilt)
but here are translations of what I consider to be representative quotes for
your viewing pleasure (extra quote sources here (17) (18)):
economic activity in
in the next four years, as well as hundred of jobs”.
a great development so that the millions of dollars that this activity
attracts, as well as the great number of jobs it generates, arrive in
is to bring certainty, security, calm and prevision to business executives,
that in
they will have the necessary conditions to develop a sustainable mining
industry.”
agenda of national development and a fundamental pillar, the same as energy sovereignty,
agriculture, science, technology and tourism. The great challenge that we have,
along with my vice-presidential candidate, is to develop all the productive
federalism (policies) while permanently looking for the best competitiveness.”
must launch now, is to double the number of jobs and mineral production in the
country.
has all the conditions needed (for mining) and reaching these goals depends on
political policies to be implemented. For these we fully trust in Daniel Scioli
and Carlos Zannini.”
to listen to the presser. All very pro-mining for sure and I tacked that Julio
de Vido quote on the end because it shows the active backing the present
administration is giving to the Scioli/Zannini ticket. Also note how many times
Zannini is mentioned, as he was handpicked by CFK as Scioli’s running mate
because of his hardcore Kirchnerist track record, as some of the true faithful
in the FpV
do’t trust the more moderate and Chameleon-like Scioli to maintain their
preferred harder leftist political line.
kept on coming up which is nothing but a reflection of the political campaign
and its mechanisms. So yes, this was a carefully staged and scripted event but
it’s also the one where Scioli lays out his political agenda on mining and to
be honest, the
couldn’t have asked for a stronger backing than it got. The keyword
“sustainable” (i.e. environment, green, ecology, agro-fears) was used
here and there but not to the extent that Rafael Correa (to choose just one
example) leans on it in his speeches. The thrust was jobs and money and
investment and stability and in my presidency we want mining jobs here in
and jobs and money and jobs. Et cetera. But as a delegation from several
Chambers of Mining noted in a letter they
“…In Argentina, many of the
difficulties that the sector faces result from a series of measures adopted by
the State which have undercut the spirit of development and enterprise of the
current Law of Mining Investment“, which is a polite way that mining
bizpeople have of saying that the government should stop meddling in the mining
sector and sticking its oar in every five minutes.
At which point we face the practical reality of
a future
under President Scioli, assuming he wins in October (sidebar: from this point
onwards and until otherwise mentioned, that’s going to be my 2015 political
assumption for the country as it’s going to take a very big shift for any other result). The
good news is that a Scioli government is making the right official noises and
putting on its pro-mining clothes. It’s also much
push the idea of jobs/growth than it is all that tree-hugging enviro protection
stuff, as Scioli’s team has done its homework and know where the side net
positive vote weighting lays.
may come with different words, but its substance is no different to that of the
current CFK administration and we’ve seen how ineffective the national
pro-mining policies are when they hit the
of regional provincial issues, politics and laws. Under Scioli we may get a
feelgood honeymoon period for the mining
as people talk up the positive talk from the country’s new President and his
possible move to a more moderate stance than CFK, but until/unless things
change at a regional level, it’s going to be the same selective mining quagmire
as always.
Bottom line: Scioli’s words on mining last week
are welcome on these pages, he was as positive as we could have hoped. But
regions will unblock
mining sector, not the national administration. We need to watch how the
regionals unfold, that will be closer to October.