In 1998, the Chilean private companies exploiting rock deposits for the aggregate production necessary in the construction industry, promoted the creation of the multilateral Commission with the purpose of solving problems of supply and demand unbalance, uncontrolled environmental impacts and serious legal gaps and/or superpositions. This Commission has been in function since 1999 until present. The Commission developed a study approaching three aspects: Technical, Environmental Impact and Legal aspects. An Aggregate Life Cycle was established with the stages that must be considered in an Aggregate Exploitation Project from any natural or artificial available source. Stages considered in this life cycle are: Deposit, Extraction, Processing, Transportation, Storage-Distribution Centers and Final Destination. For each stage, associated activities were defined generating in each case, a matrix that was later analyzed from the technical environmental and legal viewpoints. Following the analysis, the consumption, availability and quality characteristics of aggregates in Chile were established from the technical point of view. Environmental impacts for each stage and activity were defined, and lastly, all legal actions necessary to regularize the industry related with the exploitation, use and final disposal of aggregates in Chile, both at present as in the future, were stated.
