Codelco would not reach capitalization requested for late bill
While the details of the project before the government is not yet known, the draft could be ready in late August. Its time delay would not give time for budget execution.
The work to achieve definition versus multiyear bill capitalization for Codelco prepared by the Executive is taking shape.
In recent weeks they have held several meetings, which were attended by the Minister of Mining, Aurora Williams; his pair of Finance, Alberto Arenas; Cochilco’s executive vice president, Sergio Hernandez, and three directors of the state company appointed by President Michelle Bachelet, Oscar Landerretche, Laura Albornoz and Dante Contreras.
While the details of the project before the government are not yet known, sources close to the talks said the draft could be ready in late August.
Codelco requested $ 1,200 million cap for 2014, considering that during the year it planned investments of U.S. $ 4,000 million. This year, the government provided an initial injection of $ 200 million, promising to add more funding once the bill is set.
The sources said that the $ 1,000 million remaining of the request would not be fully funded, as it is expected that the bill is defined in the last quarter. In that scenario, they explained that due to the delays, the state company did not count on the ability to run a larger amount, so that in the best case, there could be a second capitalization of U.S. $ 600 to U.S. $ 800 million, subject to project implementation.
Complications
Any delays in the definition of the bill would have already generated concern within the Codelco’s Board of Directors. In fact, Landerretche would have told the authorities that projects requiring urgent resources, as Chuquicamata Underground (U.S. $ 4.200 million) and Nuevo Nivel Mina El Teniente (U.S. $ 3,424 million), could face complications.
Additionally, the situation would be carrying implications in the search for a CEO (Octavio Araneda is currently serving on an interim basis), said the sources.
They added that the current CEO of Collahuasi, Jorge Gomez and CEO of Centinela District, André Sougarret, would have rejected the position, so continue in career Lumina Copper’s CEO, Nelson Pizarro; Marubeni’s Director, Sergio Jarpa; the current interim CEO of Codelco, Octavio Araneda, and former Undersecretary of Mining and vice president of Codelco, Ivan Valenzuela. To those also be added the names of some international candidates. However, these options would not be considered by the Board of Directors as it seeks the replacement of Thomas Keller be a local actor.
It was expected that today Ministers Arenas and Williams, along with Oscar Landerretche, participate in a special session in the Senate, because of the capitalization, but the appointment was rescheduled for August 13.
Source: La Tercera
