Codelco facts for kids
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| State-owned enterprise | |
| Industry | Mining |
| Founded | (1955) |
| Headquarters | Santiago, Chile |
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Key people
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Máximo Pacheco president of the board André Sougarret president CEO |
| Products | Copper |
| Revenue |  US$16.0 billion (2010) |
| US$5.249 billion | |
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Number of employees
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17,880 |
Codelco (which stands for Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile, or the National Copper Corporation of Chile) is a huge company in Chile. It belongs to the Chilean government. Codelco's main job is copper mining. It was created in 1976 from foreign-owned copper companies that became owned by Chile in 1971.
Codelco's main office is in Santiago. A group of seven directors, chosen by the President of Chile, runs the company. This group includes the Minister of Mining and the Minister of Finance. It also has representatives from the copper workers and supervisors.
Codelco is currently the biggest copper producing company in the world. In 2007, it produced 1.66 million tonnes of copper. This was about 11% of all the copper produced globally! The company owns the world's largest known copper reserves. This means they have enough copper to keep mining for over 70 years at their current speed.
Codelco mainly produces cathode copper. This is a very pure form of copper. They also produce a lot of molybdenum. Chile is the world's biggest producer of rhenium, and Codelco makes a lot of that too. They even get small amounts of gold and silver from the leftover materials when they refine copper.
Contents
History of Codelco
Codelco's story began in 1955. That's when the Chilean government created the Copper Office. This office helped manage Chile's copper. Later, in 1966, this office became the Copper Corporation of Chile, which was also called Codelco.
A big change happened in 1971. The Chilean government decided that all copper mines in the country should belong to Chile. This was called the nationalization of copper. So, all the copper mines became fully owned by Codelco. The company we know today, Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile, was officially formed in 1976.
Codelco's symbol is based on an old alchemical symbol for copper.
How Codelco Works
Codelco has different teams that research, explore, buy, and develop new mining areas. It has five main mining areas: Codelco Norte, Salvador, Andina, Ventanas, and El Teniente. Codelco also owns part of the El Abra Mine.
The company is always looking for new places to mine. All the extra money Codelco earns goes to the Chilean government. In 2007, Codelco gave over US$7 billion to the government! This money helps Chile.
Codelco's Mining Areas
Codelco Norte
Codelco Norte is a big part of Codelco. It includes two important mining areas: Chuquicamata and Radomiro Tomic.
Chuquicamata Mine
People have mined copper at Chuquicamata for hundreds of years! In 1898, they even found a mummy called "Copper Man" there. This mummy was from around 550 A.D. and was trapped in an old mine shaft. Big-scale mining didn't start until the late 1800s. Early miners only took the very rich copper.
The modern mine started thanks to an American engineer named Bradley. He found a way to get copper from lower-grade ores. In 1910, he worked with Albert C. Burrage. Burrage sent engineers to check out Chuquicamata. Their reports were very good!
Burrage didn't have enough money to build a big mine. So, he talked to the Guggenheim Brothers. They looked at the area and estimated there were 690 million tonnes of copper! The Guggenheims also had a new way to treat the low-grade ores. They were very interested and started the Chile Exploration Company (Chilex) in 1912. They bought out Burrage's claims.
The Modern Mine at Chuquicamata
Chilex then started building the mine. They bought huge steam shovels, like the ones used for the Panama Canal! They also built a port and power plant 90 miles away. Water was brought in from the Andes mountains. Mining officially began on May 18, 1915.
Production grew quickly. In 1923, the Guggenheims sold most of their share to Anaconda Copper. Anaconda ran the mine until the 1960s. Then, the Chilean government bought a big part of it. Finally, in 1971, the mine became fully owned by Chile. In 1976, it became part of Codelco.
For many years, Chuquicamata was the world's largest copper producer. It has produced over 29 million tonnes of copper in total! This is much more than any other mine.
The Future of Chuquicamata
The open pit mine at Chuquicamata is becoming very deep. So, Codelco plans to start mining underground! This will be done using a method called "block caving." The underground mine is expected to start in 2018. It will help keep the copper production going for many more years.
Radomiro Tomic Mine
The Radomiro Tomic copper deposit was found in 1952. It's about 5 kilometers north of the main Chuquicamata pit. The company Anaconda found it but didn't develop it at the time.
Mining at Radomiro Tomic started in 1997. It's an open pit mine, just like Chuquicamata. They use big trucks and shovels. The copper is taken out using a special process called SX/EW. In 2013, Radomiro Tomic produced almost 380,000 tonnes of copper.
Ministro Alejandro Hales Mine
This is another important discovery near Chuquicamata. It was found to have a lot of copper. Work on this mine stopped for a while because the copper had a lot of arsenic. But now, they have found ways to treat these ores. This mine will help provide copper for the Chuquicamata processing plant when it moves underground.
Pollution Control
In the past, the Chuquicamata mine, especially its smelter, caused a lot of pollution. But things have changed a lot! The old mining camp at Chuquicamata has been closed. All the people who lived there moved to Calama, away from the dust and pollution.
Codelco has also worked hard to clean up the air. They have special plants that capture sulfur dioxide from the smelter. This has greatly improved air quality. They also planned to reduce arsenic emissions. Codelco is working to make sure its operations are cleaner and safer for the environment and people.
Salvador Mine
The El Salvador mine is a mix of open pit and underground mining. It's located in a company town also called El Salvador. Production at this mine started in the early 1960s. It was meant to replace another mine that was closing. The company was so happy with the new mine's production that they named it El Salvador, which means "The Savior" in Spanish.
Codelco had planned to close the El Salvador mine in 2011. But they found ways to keep it going for another 15 to 20 years! They also have a new project called San Antonio.
Andina Mine
The Andina mine is about 80 kilometers northeast of Santiago, the capital city. It was discovered in 1920, but mining didn't start until 1970. Andina has an underground mine and an open pit. Unlike some other Codelco mines, it doesn't have its own smelter.
The mines here are very high up, between 3,000 and 4,200 meters (about 9,800 to 13,800 feet) above sea level! The weather can be very harsh. Workers used to live in a special "hotel" underground when the valley was blocked by snow in winter.
Codelco is working on a big plan to expand the Andina mine. They are drilling deep to find even more copper. This will help the mine produce copper for many years to come.
El Teniente Mine
El Teniente is located about 75 kilometers south of Santiago. It is known as the largest underground copper mine in the world! People have known about and worked this copper area for many years. In the 16th century, it was owned by a religious group called the Jesuits.
Later, an American named William Braden bought the property in 1904. He started the Braden Copper Company. It was hard to build the mine because of the difficult mountain access and harsh winters. But by 1912, they had a plant to process the copper. Kennecott took control in 1915 and ran the mine until it was nationalized in 1971.
The Present Mine at El Teniente
The El Teniente mine has huge amounts of copper. At the end of 2007, they had enough copper to mine for a very long time. In 2007, the mine produced over 400,000 tonnes of copper.
Mining at El Teniente is moving deeper underground. They use special methods to get the ore out. A new deep level, called Level 8, is now working. Another even lower level is being planned. This will help the mine keep producing copper for many, many years.
All the copper ore is now processed at the Colón mill. This mill can handle 130,000 tonnes of ore every day! The processed copper then goes to the Caletones smelter nearby. This smelter turns the copper into pure copper.
Sewell, the City of Stairs
Sewell was the original camp for the El Teniente mine workers. It was known as the "city of stairs" because it looked like it was built right into the side of the mountain with many stairs. It was founded in 1906 and had about 15,000 people living there at its busiest.
Sewell was closed in the late 1980s as workers moved to the nearby city of Rancagua. Today, Sewell is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This means it's a special place recognized for its historical and cultural importance.
El Abra Mine
In 1994, Codelco sold a part of its El Abra copper deposit to another company. This company then developed the mine, and production started in 1996. El Abra is an open pit mine. It is expected to produce a lot of copper each year. Plans are in place to mine the deeper copper starting around 2010, which will make the mine last even longer.
Other Projects
The Gabriela Mistral ("Gaby") Project is another copper project. It's about 120 kilometers south of Calama. This mine is expected to produce about 150,000 tonnes of copper each year. It's special because it was the first mine in the world to use fully autonomous (self-driving) trucks from Komatsu! They also use a large central solar heating plant to help with the copper extraction process.
The Toki Cluster is a group of copper deposits that are now part of the Codelco Norte division. These areas have a lot of copper that can be mined in the future.
Ventanas Smelter
Ventanas is a smelter located on the coast, north of Valparaiso. Codelco took over Ventanas in 2005. This smelter processes copper from other Codelco mines like Andina and El Teniente. It helps Codelco become more independent in its operations.
The Ventanas plant can process a lot of copper. It produces pure copper and also gets gold, silver, and selenium from the refining process.
Codelco's Work Outside Chile
Codelco usually mines in Chile. But in 2012, the governments of Chile and Ecuador signed an agreement. This agreement allowed Codelco to start exploring for copper in Ecuador, in an area called Junin. This was one of Codelco's first projects outside of Chile.
See also
In Spanish: Codelco para niños
- Chilean nationalization of copper
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