Copper Slump Seen Opening Door to Debate on Pinochet-Era Law
- Chile Mining Minister Aurora Williams speaks in interview
- A bill to modify law has been in Congress since May 2011
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The end of the commodities super-cycle is creating the conditions for Chile to discuss changes to a four-decades-old law that gives the armed forces 10 percent of copper giant Codelco’s sales, said Mining Minister Aurora Williams.
A bill to scrap the law, which was created in its current form by late dictator Augusto Pinochet, has been languishing in Congress since 2011, when copper traded above $4 a pound amid surging Chinese demand. Now the metal is about $2 with miners including Codelco grappling with cost cutting measures to remain profitable.