Chile will not sell Codelco’s parent company — The Rio Times
The Chilean government will not put the parent company of state-owned copper producer Codelco up for sale, but seeks to develop partnerships. Economy and Mining Minister Daniel Mas said this on October 16 at the “Esto es Chile” seminar in Rancagua, The Rio Times reports, citing La Tercera.
Partnerships instead of a sale
According to Mas, the state will not sell Codelco’s parent company, but is interested in more and better partnerships. He noted that such agreements should attract capital, ideas and new mines without privatizing the company.
Codelco is preparing to present a large-scale investment plan in November. The document is expected to clarify possible stake sales, asset acquisitions and partnerships. No specific partners, assets, deal values or date for presenting the plan have been named so far.
Safety, debt and production accounting
Mas also announced significant changes in Codelco’s management, focused on worker safety, production and stabilizing the company. He described the enterprise as having substantial debt, as well as profitable and loss-making divisions.
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Two workers died on October 11 at the Codelco-owned El Teniente mine. The minister expressed condolences to their families and stressed zero tolerance for safety violations. Mas and the finance minister, according to La Tercera, asked for an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting to be convened to consider the accidents and safety measures.
Prosecutors are also investigating Codelco’s production accounting following errors, including duplicated material in the Ministro Hales and Salvador divisions. The company’s board chairman, Bernardo Fonten, called the situation “false production.”
Separately, Mas said that President José Antonio Kast had set the goal of achieving 4% economic growth. The government also plans to increase tourism’s contribution to GDP by one percentage point, which, according to the minister’s estimate, could create about 100,000 jobs.
