Codelco, Minmetals Sign Contract

Chile’s state-owned copper company Codelco plans to sign the first of a series of agreements worth up to $2 billion with Chinese state metals company Minmetals in the next few days. Codelco will repay Minmetal in copper. Codelco, the world’s largest copper producer, has several projects in the pipeline including the $900 million Alejandro Hales mine and the $500 million-$600 million Gaby mine, both in northern Chile.