Codelco
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| 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) |
| Website | www.codelco.com |
CODELCO (full name in Spanish: Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile; in English: National Copper Corporation of Chile) is a state-owned company with headquarters in Santiago, Chile. Its seven member board is named by the Chilean president and the head of this board is the Mining Minister. It is the largest copper mining company in the world and produced 1.78 million tonnes of the metal in 2006, 12% of world new mine production and 31% of Chilean output.[1][2] At the end of 2006 it had total reserves and resources in its mining plan of 122 million tonnes of copper and additional identified resources of 196 million tonnes of copper.[3] In its 2006 Annual Report the company estimated that current reserves will ensure more than 70 years of operations at current production levels. Codelco's principle product is copper cathode. In 2006 it was also the world's third largest producer of molybdenum[4] and the largest producer of rhenium[5], both byproducts of copper mining. It also has minor gold mining interests.
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[edit] 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 US $24.5 and $27.5 billion.[citation needed]
Codelco made more than 9 billion US dollars profit in 2006. According to the Ley reservada de Cobre, 1.311 billion dollars of these profits are reserved for the Chilean Armed Forces [6].
Codelco's symbol is based on the alchemical symbol for copper.
[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
- Ventanas Division
[edit] Mines
[edit] Andina
The Andina division operates the Río Blanco ore, which was discovered in 1920, but production started in the early '70s. This mine is located 80 km northeast of Santiago, between 3.700 and 4.200 m above sealevel. The annual production is around 236.356 MT.
[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 tunnels.
[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] Salvador
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 1950s, 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.
[edit] References
- ^ Codelco 2006 Annual Report
- ^ USGS 2007 Mineral Commodity Summary - Copper
- ^ Codelco 2006 Annual Report
- ^ USGS 2007 Mineral Commodity Summary Molybdenum
- ^ USGS 2007 Mineral Commodity Summary Rhenium
- ^ Codelco reportó excedentes récord por más de 9 mil millones de dólares en 2006, La Segunda, 1 March 2007 (Spanish)
