The Queensland Government has launched the Queensland-Latin America Trade and Investment Strategy 2026-28 to strengthen mining, energy, agriculture, and educational ties.
The strategy highlights the mining, energy, agriculture, and education sectors as areas for potential growth in a trade relationship.
The Minister for Finance, Trade, Employment and Training Ros Bates says Queensland’s trade mission to build ties with Latin American markets allows the state government to “put words into action”.
“Our government is unashamedly open for business and focused on securing investment for our state, to deliver more jobs and better services through a stronger economy to benefit all Queenslanders,” Bates says.
“Already under the Crisafulli Government, Queensland’s relationship with Latin America is strengthened — this strategy will ensure these partnerships continue to grow and deliver greater outcomes for both regions.
“We share a lot of the same strengths and goals as our friends in Latin America, so one of the great outcomes from deepening our ties will be the knowledge and support we’re able to give one another.
“Their region has tremendous critical mineral resources, which creates an opportunity for Queensland’s mining equipment, technology, and services sector to help bolster Latin American supply chains.”
The state government is focused on unlocking new opportunities for Queensland, backed by its local expertise with remote mining operations.
Queensland is pushing to unlock local critical mineral opportunities, as a part of its Delivering for Queensland initiative.
Delivering for Queensland was implemented into the 2026–27 Budget, with key motifs including delivering better services through a stronger economy, building Queensland’s future with new infrastructure, and making the state safe with increased policing and rehabilitation programs.
From Australia to Latin America
Australia has an existing relationship with Latin America, with Queensland’s goods exports to the region growing by 20.5% to $1.5 billion in the 2025–26 financial year.
Historically, coal has been Queensland’s largest goods export to Latin America, valued at $1.1 billion in 2025–26.
The Sunshine State is Australia’s leading exporter to Chile, accounting for 39.1% of the country’s total goods exports to Chile.
Exports to Chile from Queensland increased by 224% in 2025–26 to $169.9 million.
Meanwhile, exports to Colombia are continuing to grow after increasing by 29.5% to $23.9 million. For Colombia, Queensland’s largest export sector is machinery and transport equipment.
Exports to Peru also increased by 36.2% to $23.5 million. More than 80% of Queensland’s exports to Peru were machinery and transport equipment.
Latin America comprises 33 countries, although it is generally considered to include 20 sovereign states. This includes countries in the Caribbean, Central America, North America, and South America.
Bodies such as the United Nations add 13 primarily English- or Dutch-speaking Caribbean island nations and realms, such as Jamaica and Barbados.
Traditionally, the standard definition of Latin America focuses on predominantly Romance-speaking countries, including Spanish, Portuguese, and French in Haiti.
Countries include Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Peru.
Australian explorer Lightning Minerals (ASX:L1M) previously focused on mineral opportunities in Latin America, though its focus has now shifted to its Queensland assets.
In July 2026, Lightning concluded its phase two exploration campaign at the Warby Tungsten Project in North Queensland, collecting around 90 soil, stream sediment, and rock-chip samples across priority tungsten targets.
Lightning is reviewing data from this program, with samples being submitted to ALS Laboratories in Townsville, Queensland, for tungsten and multi-element analysis. Assay results are expected sometime this month.
The Warby Tungsten Project is described as a critical minerals growth platform in North Queensland. Lightning’s strategic objective for the project is to define and grow the Warby system to deliver a potential ‘high-value’ critical mineral asset and reinforce portfolio diversification.
Lightning’s flagship asset is the Mt Turner Project, which hosts a 14km mineralised corridor across the Georgetown Inlier with known gold mineralisation and a 100% drilling hit rate from initial campaigns.
The company is focused on advancing Mt Turner from exploration success to a district-scale gold and copper project supporting a maiden JORC mineral resource and long-term resource growth.
Lightning Minerals is an Australian explorer and developer focused on advancing gold and copper assets in tier-one mining jurisdictions.
The Latin American storm
Beyond Lightning, there are a few Australian resource companies focused on exploration in Latin America.
Aguia Resources (ASX:AGR) is a multi-commodity explorer and developer focused on gold projects in Colombia and phosphate assets in Brazil.
The company has two main assets — the Três Estradas Phosphate Project in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, and the Santa Barbara Gold Project in Colombia.
Located 320km southwest of Porto Alegre, the Três Estradas Project produces its flagship product Pampafos, a sustainable, domestically sourced fertiliser.
In mid-July, Aguia reported that sales of its Pampafos organic phosphate product had exceeded $2.3 million within six weeks of commissioning its processing plant. This figure includes $1.6 million in sales agreements.
Meanwhile, the Santa Barbara Gold Project is a mesothermal gold-vein system located in the Department of Bolivar, within the historic Serranía de San Lucas gold belt.
Aguia received its ‘highest’ gold values at Santa Barbara in mid-July from channel sampling.
Shaft two returned 128.5 grams per tonne gold over 16cm and 60.7g/t gold over 30cm, with several additional samples exceeding 1 ounce per tonne gold.
The company is planning a diamond drilling campaign at Santa Barbara to follow up these gold grades.
In Brazil and Peru, Solis Minerals (ASX:SLM) is advancing drilling campaigns.
The company completed three diamond drill holes to planned depths of about 200m each at its Mandacaru Lithium Project in Brazil earlier this month, with drilling underway on a fourth hole.
At its Cinto Copper Project in Peru, Solis executed a contract for 2,500m of diamond drilling to begin this month, targeting high-priority copper porphyry anomalies. The initial program will span five drill holes.
The Cinto Project comprises seven tenements across 3,200 hectares in the southern Peruvian copper belt.
Solis Minerals is an Australian explorer focused on battery metals in South America.
Copper and gold explorer Lodestar Minerals (ASX:LSR) is also focused on exploration in Chile, with its Los Loros and Three Saints projects.
Both assets are wholly owned by Lodestar, located within one of the largest iron oxide gold-copper (IOCG) belts in the world.
This region is home to numerous ‘world-class’ copper deposits and gold-rich IOCG systems, including the Candelaria deposit, which hosts 1.2 billion tonnes @ 0.60% copper (Cu), 0.13 grams per tonne gold (Au), and 2g/t silver. The Carola deposit hosts 10 million tonnes (Mt) @ 1.8% Cu and 0.5g/t Au, while the Atacama Kozan deposit hosts 50Mt @ 1.6% Cu and 0.35g/t Au.
Yesterday (20 August), Lodestar Minerals announced that it had entered an option agreement to acquire the Pacifico Copper-Molybdenum-Gold Porphyry Project in Chile’s Atacama region.
The acquisition is set to strengthen the company’s growing copper footprint in the country, with access to five exploration tenements and three pegged contiguous applications for a total area of 22km².
While Chile is the company’s primary exploration focus, Lodestar’s exploration portfolio also extends across the US and Western Australia.
Write to Maddison Elliott at Mining.com.au
Images: Queensland Government & Aguia Resources
