Decreto Ley 600 is a Chilean law issued by the Government Junta of Chile in July 1974 to establish a new regulatory framework for direct foreign investment aiming to attract investment to Chile. It is considered an important milestone in the transformation of the Chilean economy that led it to become more export-oriented, and was reportedly also parto of the rise of "

neoliberalism Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that advocates for free-market capitalism, which became dominant in policy-making from the late 20th century onward. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is most often used pe ...

" in the country. Most investment in mining done under the regime of Decreto Ley 600 came from the companies based in the United States. The favourable condictions established by Decreto Ley 600 attracted the companies

Falconbridge Falconbridge may refer to: *Falconbridge Ltd., a Canadian mining company *Falconbridge, Middlesex County, Ontario *Falconbridge, Greater Sudbury, Ontario People with the surname *Lord Falconbridge, an alternative title for barons, viscounts, and e ...

and Superior Oil which formed the

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

Consorcio de Exploración Doña Inés in the 1970s which explored for mineral resources in the

Quebrada Blanca Quebrada Blanca (lit. "White Ravine") is an open-pit copper mine in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. It lies in the Andes at an altitude of 4,400 meters above sea level and about 240 km southeast of the port city of Iquique. Teck Resources own ...

area in northern Chile. Later the efforts of Consorcio de Exploración Doña Inés were directed at what was to become the

Collahuasi mine The Collahuasi/Ujina mine is a large copper mine located at altitude in the north of Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antar ...

. Other companies that begun investing in Chilean mining in the framework established by the law were Saint Joe Minerals in

El Indio ''El indio'' () is a 1939 Mexican drama film directed by Armando Vargas de la Maza. It was released in Mexico on February 10, 1939 and in United States on May 12 of the same year. Consuelo Frank and Pedro Armendáriz received equal billing, whi ...

Anaconda Company The Anaconda Company, also known historically as the Anaconda Gold and Silver Mining Company (1881–1891), Anaconda Mining Company (1891–1895), Anaconda Copper Mining Company (1895–1899), Amalgamated Copper Company (1899–1915), and Anacon ...

in Los Pelambres and

EXXON Minerals Exxon Mobil Corporation ( ) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Founded as the largest direct successor of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, the modern company was formed ...

in Disputada de Las Condes. This last company invested in Chile following a short-lived trend among oil companies to invest in

copper mining Copper extraction is the multi-stage process of obtaining copper from list of copper ores, its ores. The conversion of copper ores consists of a series of physical, chemical, and electrochemical processes. Methods have evolved and vary with coun ...

, but then sold its assets. The law is credited with attracting Noranda to invest in the copper smelter Refimet in the early 1990s and which it fully acquired in 1998 changing its name to

Fundición Altonorte Fundición Altonorte or Complejo Metalúrgico Altonorte is a copper smelter plant in La Negra, 25 km southeast of the city of Antofagasta in northern Chile. Owned by Glencore, it is classified as a "custom smelter" as it does not depend on ore c ...

. Another result attributed to the decree is the dwarfing of traditional ''

pirquinero In Chile and nearby areas of Argentina and Bolivia a () is a miner who extracts minerals in a traditional manner and is usually independent. A charactistic of the is that they are involved in a wide range of stages of the production including m ...

'' mining activity relative to the new modern mining industry that was established in Chile in the late 20th century.

References

{{reflist 1974 in Chilean law Foreign direct investment Mining in Chile