Chilean nationalization of copper

The nationalization of the Chilean copper industry, commonly described as the Chilenización del cobre or "Chileanization of copper," was the progressive process by which the Chilean government acquired control of the major foreign-owned section of the Chilean copper mining industry. It involved the three huge mines known as 'La Gran Mineria' and three smaller operations. The Chilean-owned smaller copper mines were not affected. The process started under the government of President Carlos Ibáñez del Campo, and culminated during the government of President Salvador Allende, who completed the nationalization. This "act of sovereignty" was the espoused basis for a later international economic boycott, which further isolated Chile from the world economy, worsening the state of political polarization that led to the 1973 Chilean coup d'état.

By the late 1950s, the three principal copper mines in Chile were Chuquicamata, El Salvador, and El Teniente. Chuquicamata and El Salvador were owned by the Anaconda Copper Company and El Teniente was owned by the Kennecott Copper Corporation. The La Exotica mine, an adjunct of Chuquicamata, was added to these big mines in 1966.These large mines were mainly self-contained and self-sustaining settlements with their own cities to house their workers, their own water and electrical plants, their own schools, stores, railways, and even in certain cases their own police forces.

Three other mines were eventually nationalized, Cerro de Pasco's Andina operation, which went to Codelco, and the two mines, Los Bronces and El Soldado, owned by Peñarroya's Disputada de las Condes, which were bought by ENAMI. Evidently these mines did not fit in with ENAMI's plans and Disputada de las Condes was subsequently sold (at a substantial profit) to Exxon Minerals.

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