Chilean
President Seeks To Repeal Copper Mining Law
Santiago - Chilean
President Michelle Bachelet on Tuesday moved
a bill in parliament to repeal the existing
copper mining law of the country.
The move, once passed into law, will be
welcomed by foreign copper mining partners.
The existing Reserved Law on Copper
regulates that Chile's state-owned copper
miner Codelco gives 10 percent of its
profits to the armed forces of the country.
Codelco (the national copper corporation of
Chile), accounting for 11 percent of the
world's copper production total, is the
largest copper producing company that owns
the largest known copper reserves in the
world.
The president proposed to include the
military expenditure in the country's
central budget instead of giving out money
from both the central coffer and that of
Codelco.
The dual financing system was forged during
Augusto Pinochet's military regime in the
1970s.
"It (the bill) will finish a fiscal scheme
that accommodated a special arrangement for
a specific sector," Bachelet said while
meeting chief commanders of the military.
The army and navy commanders did not see a
potential budget reduction due to be caused
by the repeal of the existing copper mining
law.
Navy Commander Edmundo Gonzalez described
the presidential bill as satisfying "without
doubt" the basic requirements of the
country's military, which include secured
financial sources for both budgeted and
unexpected expenses.
Chile's legislative power is vested in both
the government and the two chambers of the
national congress (parliament). The
president is both the head of state and head
of government. |
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