Codelco

The National Copper Corporation of Chile (Spanish: Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile), abbreviated as Codelco, is a Chilean state-owned mining company and the largest copper mining company in the world. It was formed in 1976 from foreign-owned copper companies that were nationalised in 1971. As of 2025 its most productive mines are Radomiro Tomic and El Teniente. In 2025, Codelco was the second largest copper producing company in the world, and produced 1.332 million tonnes of copper. In 2007, it produced 1.66 million tonnes of copper, 11% of the world total. It then owned the world's largest known copper reserves and resources. At the end of 2007 it had a total of reserves and resources of 118 million tonnes of copper in its mining plan, sufficient for more than 70 years of operation at current production rates. It also identified additional resources of 208 million tonnes of copper, though one cannot say how much of this may prove economic. Codelco's principal product is cathode copper. It is also one of the world's largest molybdenum producers, producing 27,857 fine metric tons in 2007, and is a large producer of rhenium, of which Chile is the world's largest producer. It also produces small amounts of gold and silver from refinery anode slimes, the residue from electro refining of copper. Since at least 2004 the production levels of copper Codelco has stagnated or declined, with a significant decline from 2021 to 2023. The tonnage of copper produced in 2023 was 72% of that of 2004 and the decline affects all of Codelcos mining divisions, but originated in large part from geomechanical problems compromising the stability of three mines; El Teniente, Chuquicamata and Ministro Hales. Following the launching of the National Lithium Strategy in 2023 Codelco has ventured into lithium mining. Codelco created...