Aurora Williams Baussa
On August 16, Chile’s President Gabriel Boric appointed Aurora Williams Baussa as the new Minister of Mining, replacing the outgoing Secretary of State, Marcela Hernando Pérez, who remained in the position for 17 months. This will be Williams’ second term. She had served in the same position during the Bachelet administration between 2014 and 2018.
Raised in Antofagasta, Chile’s copper country, Williams has more than 30 years of experience in senior executive positions in various companies. She approved the capitalization of Codelco to finance structural projects and created a copper price stabilization mechanism for small-scale mining during her first term as Chile’s mining minister. She also created the National Lithium Commission to craft public policy for the development of those domestic resources.
