DJ Chile Codelco Not Worried By Privatization Debate - Director

MEJILLONES, Chile (Dow Jones)--Despite it making the local headlines regularly, Chile's state copper miner Corporacion Nacional del Cobre doesn't pay heed to the debate regarding privatization, Nicolas Majluf, a member of the miner's board, told reporters Wednesday.

When he was on the campaign trail, President-elect Sebastian Pinera, the first democratically elected conservative president in 52 years, said he sought to either float a stake in the miner or incorporate private capital.

In his nearly 10 years on the board at the state-owned mining company, the directors have never discussed the issue of privatization, Majluf said.

"It's not our issue," said Majluf, who will take over as president of the board of directors of Codelco, as the miner is known, in March.

He added that there isn't the necessary political consensus to make those changes to Codelco.

Since being elected president, Pinera and his future mining minister, Laurence Golborne, have since retracted their pro-privatization stance, saying Codelco will remain in state hands.

"In Pinera's program, it's very clear that Codelco will remain a state-owned company," Golborne said earlier this month, without referring specifically to floating a minority stake or incorporating capital into Codelco.

Codelco's powerful unions recently threatened to protest if Pinera takes any measures toward privatizing the state mining company.

Pinera and his cabinet take office on March 11.

Codelco is the world's largest copper producer, with an annual output of around 1.6 million metric tons.

-By Anthony Esposito, Dow Jones Newswires; 56-2-820-4241; anthony.esposito@dowjones.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 24, 2010 13:12 ET (18:12 GMT)

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