BUENOS AIRES (miningweekly.com) – The world's biggest copper miner, Chile's Codelco, invested $112-million in sustainability last year, according to a report launched by the company in Santiago last week.

The figure includes $54-million spent on environmental management and $58-million on safety, the government-owned company said.

“It does not only matter the amount of resources we give, it is also important the way we do so,” Codelco president José Pablo Arellano said during the event.

The company used 6,39 GWh of energy directly last year, only slightly higher than the 6,38 GWh reported for 2007, BNAmericas reported.

Codelco produced 390 000 t during the first quarter of 2009.

The Chilean government is considering a new corporate governance law for Codelco, to modify and modernise the way the company is run, and Mining Minister Santiago González urged Parliament to approve the law “as soon as possible”.

The modernisation project is expected to include a $1-billion capitalisation for new investments and result in the creation of some 12 000 jobs.

LABOUR LAWSUIT

Meanwhile, neither Gonzalez nor Arellano commented on reports that the copper giant has lauched a lawsuit claiming millions of dollars in damages from a mineworkers union, which temporarily blocked assess to the company's Chuquicamata mine last month.

The workers say the action is another form “of intimidation of the administration”, El Mercurio newspaper reported.

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