By The Rio Times | Created at 2026-08-15 12:20:37 | Updated at 2026-08-15 13:18:59
4 hours ago
Chile · Mining
Key Facts
- What happened: On August 14, 2026, Codelco reshuffled its top ranks, naming five vice presidents and new managers at four mining divisions.
- New CEO: Jorge Gómez, former head of the Collahuasi mine, took over on July 13, 2026, replacing Rubén Alvarado.
- New chairman: Bernardo Fontaine, appointed by President José Antonio Kast in May 2026.
- Divisions affected: El Teniente, Chuquicamata, Ventanas and Ministro Hales.
- Backdrop: A production-reporting scandal and a deadly 2025 accident at El Teniente.
- 2025 output: About 1.332 million tonnes of copper; the old 1.7-million-tonne goal has been dropped.
- Lithium: Codelco’s venture with SQM controls Salar de Atacama lithium production until 2060.
The world’s largest copper miner is betting new faces can fix old problems — a fatal accident, a bookkeeping scandal, and ore that keeps getting poorer.
Chile’s state copper company just rebuilt its command team from the top down. On August 14, 2026, Codelco named five new vice presidents and replaced the general managers at four of its mining divisions.
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Who is moving where
New CEO Jorge Gómez has split the mines into two operating blocks. Lindor Quiroga Bugueño takes charge of the northern operations.
Those cover Chuquicamata, Radomiro Tomic, Ministro Hales and Gabriela Mistral. Francisco Carvajal Palacios — the former head of iron miner CMP — leads the center-south block.
That group holds El Teniente, Andina, El Salvador and Ventanas. So two people now oversee almost every mine Codelco runs.
Three more vice presidents round out the team. Mario Quiñones will run mining resources, development and innovation.
Leonardo Biaggini takes strategy and management control. Pablo Villarino, a lawyer, handles corporate affairs and sustainability.
Several of them come from Collahuasi, the private mine Gómez used to lead. He is clearly bringing trusted people with him.
Four divisions, new bosses
The divisions got fresh leadership too. Julio Díaz moves in to run El Teniente, the flagship mine.
Ricardo Weishaupt takes over Chuquicamata from August 15. Claudio Flores steps in at Ventanas, and Thomas Gleisner Rivas at Ministro Hales — both for now on an interim basis.
Most of the other appointments start on September 1. It is one of the deepest reshuffles Codelco has done in years.
Why the shake-up, and why now
Codelco has had a rough year — and a rough decade. Gómez only took the top job on July 13, 2026.
He replaced Rubén Alvarado, who resigned after an audit found the company had overstated its 2025 copper output. The gap was about 27,000 tonnes.
That may sound small. But for a company built on trust with the Chilean state, a reporting error like that is a serious blow.
The board changed too. In May 2026, President José Antonio Kast named economist Bernardo Fontaine as chairman.
He replaced Máximo Pacheco, the chairman under the previous government. So the new team reflects a change of government, not just a change of managers.
Gómez has said little that is flashy. He describes the goal as reinforcing a team of excellence with deep industry experience.
The plainer translation is steady hands and fewer surprises — and a hard focus on getting the numbers right.
The El Teniente shadow
Safety is the quiet theme behind all of this. On July 31, 2025, a violent rock burst tore through El Teniente.
Six workers died. The mine — Codelco’s biggest — lost roughly 48,000 tonnes of copper that year.
Codelco now expects little real growth there for several years. Putting a trusted manager in that seat is not a small decision.
Copper is getting harder to dig
There is a slower problem underneath the headlines. Chile’s copper is getting harder and costlier to pull out of the ground.
Ore grades — the amount of metal in each tonne of rock — keep falling. So miners must move more rock to get the same copper.
Codelco produced about 1.332 million tonnes of copper in 2025. It has quietly dropped its old dream of 1.7 million tonnes, calling that target out of reach.
The lithium bet
Copper is not the only bet on the table. In late 2025, Codelco and private miner SQM sealed a lithium partnership in the Salar de Atacama.
The venture will control lithium in that salt flat — the world’s richest — until 2060. It hands the state a bigger share of a metal used in electric-car batteries.
Gómez now has to make both plans work at once. That means fixing the copper business while standing up a whole new lithium one.
Why this matters if you live in or invest in Latin America
Codelco alone hands billions of dollars a year to Chile’s treasury. That money funds schools, roads and pensions across the country.
When its output slips, the whole nation feels the pinch. And because Chile supplies so much of the world’s copper, its troubles ripple into the price of everything from home wiring to electric cars.
A steadier Codelco is good news well beyond Santiago. This shake-up is the clearest sign yet that its new leaders know the stakes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Codelco’s new CEO?
Jorge Gómez, who ran the Collahuasi mine for more than a decade. He became Codelco’s chief executive on July 13, 2026, replacing Rubén Alvarado.
How many executives changed in the shake-up?
Codelco named five new vice presidents and new general managers at four divisions — El Teniente, Chuquicamata, Ventanas and Ministro Hales. Most changes take effect on September 1, 2026.
Why is Codelco restructuring now?
The company is recovering from a production-reporting scandal, a deadly 2025 accident at El Teniente, and years of falling ore grades. A new CEO and a new chairman are trying to steady the business.
What happened at the El Teniente mine?
On July 31, 2025, a rock burst killed six workers at El Teniente, Codelco’s largest mine. It cost about 48,000 tonnes of copper output and stalled growth there for years.
Sources: Codelco; Diario Financiero; La Tercera; Reuters via Mining.com; Bloomberg.
