Chile’s lawmakers to investigate Codelco

Members of the lower house in Chile’s Congress have unanimously approved creation of a special investigative commission to examine a series of alleged irregularities at state-owned copper producer Codelco. The issues are: overestimation of production by almost 27,000 t last year; a multimillion-dollar renovation of the company’s headquarters in Santiago; and, maybe, the collapse of a chimney at Potrerillos copper smelter in the Atacama region of northern Chile. The structural failure has forced a production suspension.

Codelco’s new directors, appointed following a change of government, have already ordered an external audit to recalculate the company’s stated 2024 and 2025 production figures after the revelation the company exaggerated copper output by 26,875 t last year. A national prosecutor is also conducting a criminal investigation into the matter, which has led to a manager being dismissed and warnings issued to seven others, one of whom had already left the company.

Mining committee chairman Cristian Tapia, who spearheaded the call in the Chamber of Deputies for a special investigative commission, said there is evidence justifying a thorough review of the company’s recent management. “There is an overestimation of nearly 27,000 t of fine copper. On the other hand, we have the high cost of the renovation of the Santiago offices, which was $57 million,” he was quoted as saying by local media. The sum equates to €49.4 M. “At the same time, we have the chimney that collapsed in Potrerillos, which has halted the smelter and prevented production processes from being completed, and that is extremely serious. In other words, an office is being repaired for $57 million, yet no maintenance is being performed on a chimney at one of the most important smelters we have in our country.”

Potrerillos has a copper anode capacity of 200,000 t/y, and last year turned out 158,790 t of the product, plus nickel, gold, silver and sulphuric acid as by-products, according to CRU.