The Chilean government will provide $600 million this year to state mining firm Codelco to help finance the company's major investment program, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday.
Finance Minister Rodrigo Valdes said in a statement the sum is the first installment of $3 billion authorized under special legislation passed by Congress last year.
Codelco's copper mines are a major source of revenue to the Chilean state, its sole owner, handing over more than $100 billion since its creation four decades ago.
The company now needs to invest billions of dollars to renovate its operations to prevent production from falling to half of current levels, just as copper prices have fallen to six-year lows.
"It is very important to maintain costs under control and to ensure that the structural projects in construction respond to the present and future conditions in the copper market," Valdes said.
The announcement comes two days after a meeting between the ministers and Codelco's board of directors in advance of the company's 2014-2018 development plan.
CEO Nelson Pizarro said the company plans to spend $21 billion$-22 billion over the period, down from $25 billion previously, largely through a scaling back of a proposed expansion at its Andina division.
