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'CODELCO' (full name in Spanish: '''Co'rporación Nacional 'del' 'Co'bre de Chile''; in English: ''Chilean National Copper Corporation'') is a state-owned company in Chile and the world's largest copper producer with estimated 200 years of copper reserves. Codelco produces 21% of worldwide annual volume of ore, and its principal production is 99.99% pure copper cathodes. Codelco (2004) ranks also first in the production rhenium and second of molybdenum, both side products of the copper mining.

Contents

History

Divisions

Mines

El Teniente

Chuquicamata

Radomiro Tomic

References

See also

External links

History

Codelco's history begins with Law 11,828, of May 5, 1955, that created the ''Copper Office'' (''Departamento del Cobre'') of the Chilean government, approved under President Carlos Ibáñez del Campo. During the administration of President Eduardo Frei Montalva, Congress sanctioned law 16.425, on January 25, 1966, and transformed the ''Copper Office'' into the ''Copper Corporation of Chile'' (Codelco).
With the constitutional reform that nationalized copper (Law 17,450 of July 11, 1971), during President Salvador Allende's government, full ownership of all copper mines and copper fields in the country were transferred to Codelco. The creation of the ''Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile'', as it is currently known, was formalized by decree of April 1, 1976, under the Augusto Pinochet administration. A study by Goldman Sachs of January 2006 estimated the current value of the company between $24,5 and $27,5 Billions US .
Codelco made more than 9 billion US dollars profits in 2006. According to the ''Ley reservada de Cobre'', 1.311 billion dollars of these profits are reserved for the Chilean Armed Forces ^[1].

Divisions

Codelco has four mining and one industrial divisions. They are all located in Northern and Central Chile.

★ Codelco Norte Division

★ Salvador Division

★ Andina Division

★ El Teniente Division

★ Ventanas Division

Mines

El Teniente

El Teniente, located 80 km south of Santiago, owned by Codelco and administrated by its El Teniente Division, is the largest underground mine in the world, having 2400 km of underground galleries.

Chuquicamata

Chuquicamata, located 15 km north of Calama, is the largest open-pit copper mine in the world. It is administrated by Division Codelco Norte.

Radomiro Tomic

Radomiro Tomic is located 1670 km North of Santiago and near Chuquicamata, at 3000 meters above sea level in the Andes Range. It is an open pit mine that extracts oxide minerals. Although this deposit was discovered in the 1950's, its operations started in 1995, after Codelco updated the feasibility studies for its exploitation and had the necessary technology to exploit it profitably. It is administrated by Division Codelco Norte.

References

1. Codelco reportó excedentes récord por más de 9 mil millones de dólares en 2006, ''La Segunda'', 1 March 2007

See also

★ Chilean nationalization of copper

External links

★ Codelco official site

★
★ FAQ

★ Latin Business Chronicle: Privatize Codelco?

★ Top 10 Copper Companies