Codelco Stake Sale Scrapped

The Chilean government has decided not to sell a stake in state-owned copper miner Codelco, CEO designate Diego Hernandez tells LatinFinance on the sidelines of a Metal Bulletin copper conference in New York. During his election campaign, Chilean president Sebastian Pinera had proposed privatizing up to 20% of Codelco, which mining analyst Christopher Ecclestone of Hallgarten estimates could be worth $8bn-$10bn. Separately, Hernandez says Codelco’s 2010 investment budget is $2.3bn, up from $2.2bn in 2009, an amount he calls “a historical record.”