The government of Chile has made a decision to reinvest all of Codelco's 2025 profits of $2.4 billion back into the state-owned company in an attempt to support a heavily indebted copper miner.
Reuters quotes mining minister Daniel Mas as saying that the government would return all of Codelco's profits from last year for the company to invest, a large jump from the 30% assigned by the previous government for 2024's profits.
This is the first time the government has decided to reinvest all profits since the creation of Codelco in 1971.
"It gives us great support just at the time when we have to work to implement a deep recovery plan for Codelco," said the company’s chairman Bernardo Fontaine.
Despite posting a solid profit of $2.4 billion last year thanks to higher copper prices, Codelco’s net debt amounted to $25.1 billion at the end of 2025.
The company is still struggling with the aftermath of a major seismic accident at its flagship El Teniente mine that took place last year. It has paused one of the expansion projects at the mine, citing recent studies that show greater seismic risk than initially thought.
Codelco faces criminal, regulatory and technical investigations, and is still trying to figure out the precise cause of the disaster.
Theodor Lisovoy, Managing Editor, Rough&Polished
