Codelco
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| CODELCO | |
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| Type | Government-owned |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1955 |
| Headquarters |  Santiago, Chile |
| Industry | Mining |
| Products | Copper |
| Revenue | $11.344 billion (2004) |
| Employees | 17,880(2005) |
| Slogan | N/A |
| Website | www.codelco.com |
CODELCO (full name in Spanish: Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile) 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.
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[edit] History
Codelco's history begins with Law 11,828, of May 5, 1955, michael 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.
[edit] 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
[edit] Mines
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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.
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