Chile

Chile is 4,300 km long and almost nowhere wide, and EMM treats its three main regions as separate markets. The north is the Atacama - the driest desert on earth, home to Escondida, Chuquicamata and the lithium brine operations, with ports at Antofagasta, Mejillones and Iquique, where the ZOFRI free zone also serves as a redistribution point for Bolivia, Peru and Paraguay. The centre around San Antonio and Valparaiso serves Santiago, agriculture and wine. The south from Puerto Montt down is salmon and forestry. The specification for each is different.

Copper, lithium, salmon, wine

Chile is the largest copper producer in the world and mining demand dominates: crushing and grinding, flotation, solvent extraction and electrowinning, thickeners, filtration, slurry and dewatering pumps, conveying, compressors and laboratory plant, with wear-part consumption running continuously. The lithium operations in the Salar de Atacama buy evaporation, pumping, crystallisation and handling equipment. Salmon farming in Los Lagos and Aysen is the world's second largest and buys feed plant, net and cage equipment, pumps, processing lines, freezing and cold storage. Forestry and pulp buy chipping, debarking, sawmilling, drying and handling machinery. Fruit for the northern hemisphere winter - grapes, cherries, blueberries, apples - buys packhouse grading, sorting, hydrocooling, controlled atmosphere and cold storage. Wine takes crushing, pressing, fermentation, filtration and bottling plant.

Three technical points that matter here

First, Chile runs at 50 Hz, unlike almost all of South America - 220 V single phase, 380 V three phase - which is a frequent and expensive error. Second, the northern mines sit between 2,500 and 4,500 m, so altitude derating is mandatory. Third, Chile is one of the most seismically active countries on earth, and anchoring, bracing and flexible connection specifications for heavy plant have to reflect that properly. Spanish documentation throughout. Buyers here are technically rigorous and will read a datasheet closely.

Confirm 50 Hz and give us the site elevation. Those two together prevent the two most common mistakes on this route.