Codelco´s history begins with the constitutional reform that nationalized copper, on july 11th 1971. The creation of the Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile, as it is currently known, was formalized by decree of april 1st 1976.

But the company inherits a long history linking human beings and copper mining activities that opened up the mining wealth of this part of the Los Andes Range, identified as the main deposit of copper of the planet.

There is evidence of copper use in the Andean region going back several centuries before Christ. The various cultures inhabiting the area developed elemental metallurgies that allowed them to exploit and work the metal, even to produce alloys.

In Northern Chile, the atacameño and diaguita peoples knew the metal. And since a remote past the local communities had started to explot the wealth of a deposit with future: Chuquicamata. The Tiahuanaco and Inca cultures, which had great influence on the region before the arrival of the Spaniards, used bronze, a very hard alloy made of copper and tin.

During colonial times copper exploitation remained a small industry, which began to change during the XIX century. In 1810, the year Chile became independent, the country had a production of 19,000 tons of copper.

Between 1820 and 1900, Chile produced 2 million tons of copper. Fir some time it became the main world producer and exporter. However, late in the XIX century a period of decadence began, due to the nitrate fever which drew away investment and to the exhaustion of the high grade deposits. In 1897 only 21,000 tons were produced.

This situation began to change at the beginnings of the XX century when large international companies got interested in the Chilean deposits. They had the technologies to obtain copper even when the grade was much lower.

In 1904, the Braden Copper Co. started the exploitation of El Teniente, which then was transfered to the Kenecott Corporation, also an American company. The Chile Exploration Company, property of the New York Guggenheim, started in 1910 the works in Chuquicamata.

The exploitation of these two deposits, which in 1971 became property of the Chilean State, showed the economic viability of low grade sulfide minerals and made possible to supply the international markets.

In 1923, the Chile Exploration Company was sold to the Anaconda Copper Company, another U.S. company, which also managed the Andes Copper Company in charge of the Salvador deposit, also operated by Codelco since its creation in the 70´s.

Other foreign companies also carried out exploration and exploitation activities in Chile during most of the XX century. The Chilean State received few benefits from copper mining until 1951, when the signature of the Washington Agreement allowed it to have 20% of the copper production.

In 1955, the Chilean Congress began passing laws to tax copper production, aimed at ensuring a minimal income to the State. That year the Copper Department was created, with the authority to oversee and to participate in the international markets of the metal.

This Department was responsible for informing the public entities of Chile on issues related to the production and sale of copper and for overseeing the production and commercialization of the metal.

The "chilenization" of Copper, began in 1966 with the approval of Law 16,452 which established the creation of mixed societies with foreign companies in which the State would own 51% of the property of the deposits.

This process led to the transformation of the Copper Department into a Copper Corporation. The State took then a decisive role in the production and commercialization of copper.

The 51% participation of the State was established in the most important and symbolic deposits: Chuquicamata, El Teniente and Salvador, which as a result of this process received important investments. Among the aims of chilenization was to refine all the copper in the country and to increase production to 1 million tons.

The industry scenario underwent a radical change when in 1971 Congress approved by unanimity the project on nationalization of the large scale copper mining, established as Law 17,540.

In order to make nationalization possible it was necessary to modify Article 10 of the Chilean Constitution, to which a transitory disposition was added stating that "being demanded by national interest and in exercise of the sovereign and inalienable right of the State to freely use its wealth and natural resources, the foreign companies forming the great mining are nationalized and incorporated to the full and exclusive dominion of the Nation..."

The goods and facilities of these companies became property of the State of Chile, which created Collective Societies to manage the operations, coordinated by the Copper Corporation of that time.

Nationalization of large-scale copper mining was consolidated when the State registered the deposits under its name, notwithstanding subsequent registration by Collective State Companies. This allowed the government to legally decide the organization, operation and administration of the nationalized companies and it also established that the faculty to dispose of rights or operate a mining concession could only be exercised on new deposits that were not already being mined or authorized by the law.

Resulting from these attributions, the Law Decrees 1,349 and 1,350 were dictated and published on april 1st 1976, which formalized the creation of a mining company, the Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile, Codelco.

Codelco Chile was born as a State company that grouped the existing deposits in one mining, industrial and commercial Corporation, with official address in Santiago.

Its first mission was to strengthen the administrative transformation required to give continuity to the exploitation of the nationalized deposits, its facilities, works and associated services.