| | | Chile is no stranger to nationalizing mining companies... The world's largest producer of copper is in Chile It was formed in 1976 from foreign-owned copper companies that were nationalised in 1971.
Codelco (Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile or, in English, the National Copper Corporation of Chile) is a Chilean state owned copper mining company.
The headquarters are in Santiago and the seven-man board of directors is appointed by the President of the Republic. It has the Minister of Mining as its president and six other members including the Minister of Finance and one representative each from the Copper Workers Federation and the National Association of Copper Supervisors.
It is currently the largest copper producing company in the world and produced 1.66 million tonnes of copper in 2007, 11% of the world total. It owns the world's largest known copper reserves and resources. At the end of 2007 it had a total of reserves and resources of 118 million tonnes of copper in its mining plan, sufficient for more than 70 years of operation at current production rates. It also has additional identified resources of 208 million tonnes of copper, though one cannot say how much of this may prove economic.
Codelco's principal product is cathode copper. It is also one of the world's largest molybdenum producers, producing 27,857 fine metric tons in 2007, and is a large producer of rhenium, of which Chile is the world's largest producer. It also produces small amounts of gold and silver from refinery anode slimes, the residue from electro refining of copper.
Chile mining firms call for moderation after Boric election win
Fabian Cambero
December 19, 2021
SANTIAGO — Chile’s mining sector congratulated leftist Gabriel Boric on Sunday after he secured victory in the country’s presidential election and called for moderation and dialog to safeguard the industry in the world’s largest copper producing nation.
Boric comfortably beat right-wing rival José Antonio Kast, who conceded defeat on Sunday evening after a divisive election race. Both candidates were from outside the mainstream political parties, though mining firms had been more wary of Boric.
The National Mining Society (Sonami) said in a statement that voters have “sent a clear message” about the need to maintain Chile’s economic and social development.
“We trust that the spirit of programmatic convergence, moderation and openness to dialog shown during the last week of the campaign will prevail,” it added.
Boric has pledged to overhaul Chile’s market-orientated economic model that dates back to the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, credited for driving decades of growth but also fostering inequality.
The country is also rewriting its constitution, which could see environmental regulations tightened, and lawmakers are looking to raise taxation on mining firms, who are currently benefiting from record high global metals prices.
Boric has said that he would look to create a state lithium firm and criticized privatization of the sector, where Albemarle and SQM are currently the main two players.
State-owned Codelco is the world largest copper miner, but there are many large multinationals in Chile’s copper sector including BHP, Glencore, Anglo American and Antofagasta. (Reporting by Fabian Cambero; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Sam Holmes) |
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