Antofagasta’s Arriagada, Collahuasi boss among top picks for Codelco’s CEO job

Chile’s state-owned miner Codelco, the world’s top copper producer, is said to have narrowed down the list for the company’s potential new chief executive to about five candidates, including Antofagasta’s (LSE: ANTO) CEO Iván Arriagada.

According to local paper Diario Financiero, the list proposed by consultancy Egon Zehnder International also names the Collahuasi mine’s top executive Jorge Gómez and internal candidates such as Nicolás Rivera (vice-president of Codelco’s northern unit) and Mauricio Barraza (VP of the centre-south unit).

Other names circulating in mining circles include the former president of BHP Americas, Daniel Malchuk, and the current president of BHP’s Pampa Norte, Cristián Sandoval.

The search for a new CEO was triggered last month by the surprise resignation of Codelco’s current boss André Sougarret, a quiet individual who gained prominence when leading the rescue of 33 miners trapped in a Chilean mine in 2010.

Sougarret, a mining engineer, replaced Octavio Araneda less than a year ago and will leave the post on Aug. 31.

Codelco CEO André Sougarret. Credit: Codelco

Sources close to the matter said that the start date for the new CEO will depend on who is chosen.

“An internal candidate would be able to take the post as soon as Sougarret is gone, but if the new CEO is an external candidate, it’s highly unlikely that the executive can start on Sept. 1,” they said.

Codelco’s chairman Máximo Pacheco hinted this week that the company could announce its new boss before the end of August.

The hiring committee, which includes Pacheco and two other directors, is scheduled to meet on July 27 to go over the names put forward by Egon Zehnder.

The new CEO of Codelco could be announced at the next board meeting, set for Aug. 31, which is Sougarret’s last day with the copper miner.

Production at 25-year low

Codelco’s copper production has fallen this year by more than 11% to at a 25-year low, despite investing about $3.5 billion a year to revamp its aging mines. 

The state-miner has recently been charged with the role of representing the Chilean government in new public-private contracts to mine lithium.

Critics have said that Codelco does not have enough knowledge and expertise in the lithium industry as it does of copper. Pacheco disagrees and has said that what matters the most is Codelco’s track record in mining as well as its international reputation, financial capacity and experience with private sector partners.

“We would be an extraordinarily short-sighted company if we don’t enter the lithium business,” Pacheco has said.

Chile, the world’s top copper-producing country and no. 2 for lithium, has seen policy shifts this year, with President Gabriel Boric hiking royalties for mining companies and announcing plans for more state control over the lithium sector.