The issuing of the constitutional reform that nationalized copper, on july 11th 1971, set in motion a process that culminated in the creation of a company responsible for operating and managing the mining properties given to the State.

The Law Decree 1,350 of 1976 created the Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile, Codelco, conceived as a mining, industrial and commercial company owned by the Chilean State.

The Board of Directors is the highest authority of the Company and it consists of nine members appointed as set forth in Law No. 20,392, enacted on 4 November 2009: three directors directly appointed by the President of the Republic; four directors appointed from a shortlist selected by the Council of Senior Public Management; one director selected from a shortlist presented by the Federation of Copper Workers (FTC), and one director chosen from a shortlist presented by both the Federation of Copper Supervisors (FESUC) and the National Association of Copper Supervisors (ANSCO).