Fundición Chagres

Fundición Chagres is a copper smelter plant in Valparaíso Region, Chile.[1] As of 2025 it is one of Chile's five functional copper smelters, Chile being the world's largest producer of copper.[2] The smelter is owned by Anglo American Sur, a joint venture owned in half by Anglo American plc. It lies at 400 m above sea level and reported to produce 110.1 kTons of copper anodes in 2023.[3] It has a smelting capacity of 560 to 600 kTon per year but produced in the early to mid-2010s 140 to 145 kTon copper per year. The residual slag produced at Fundición smelter had as of 2009 copper contents of 3±0.1% Cu.[4] With a sulphur emission capture rate of over 96% Fundición Chagres has the highest sulphur capture rate of any copper smelter in Chile.[5]

Together with Fundición Altonorte they are two only private-owned copper smelters in Chile, while the remaining five are owned by state-owned Codelco or ENAMI. The smelter operates with three Peirce Smith converter (PSC) and two rotary Slag Cleaning Furnaces (SCF).[6]

Fundición Chagres started operations in 1927 but closed in 1945 and then re-opened in 1956.[7][8]

The smelter had as of January 2024 a permanent workforce of 323 employees and 230 contractors.[3]

While Fundición Chagres held The Copper Mark environmental certificate as of 2022,[9] in 2021 it was estimated that the smelter would require a series of improvements to comply with new Chilean environmental legislation.[10]

See also

• Alexander Sutulov
• Copper mining in Chile
• List of copper smelters in Chile
• Pollution in Quintero and Puchuncaví