ABSTRACT
Mining should bring extensive economic benefits. Minerals development creates power for those who share in it – and potentially competition for access to it. Many of the world’s richest countries have benefited greatly from minerals extraction. Australia, Canada, Finland, Sweden, and the United States, for example, have all had extensive minerals industries and used them as a platform for broad-based industrial development. World prices for mineral products have unquestionably fallen relative to the prices of manufactured goods over the past two decades. The other commodity price issue is volatility. Since the collapse of the Bretton Woods exchange rate system in the 1970s, the prices for minerals have been more volatile than those for manufactured goods. Chilean fund appears to have functioned well, the current evidence only relates to short-term effects. Governments can also plan for volatility on the expenditure side. Governments should also take other steps to make the most of the gain from private-sector mining.
