The Green Energy Transition Has a Chilean Copper Problem
Codelco is struggling to lift output amid the worldwide push toward electrification.
The Codelco Chuquicamata open pit copper mine near Calama, Chile.
Photographer: Cristobal Olivares/Bloomberg
André Sougarret won global acclaim in 2010 as the chief engineer on a rescue of 33 Chilean miners who’d spent more than two months trapped 2,300 feet underground. Now, as chief executive officer of Codelco, he must attempt another difficult feat: digging the world’s No. 1 copper producer out of its current hole.
At the state-owned behemoth, output is running at its lowest in a quarter century, costs have surged, and profit has slumped—all at a time when Chile’s government needs more money to fight festering inequalities and the world needs more copper for batteries and electric grids as it transitions away from fossil fuels.