Chile's privatization wave under Pinochet (1973–1990)
The Pinochet military government privatized hundreds of state-owned firms under the guidance of the 'Chicago Boys' economists. Copper mining through Codelco was constitutionally exempted, but new mineral deposits were opened to private investment. SQM—now one of the world's largest lithium producers—was sold to a politically connected buyer, Julio Ponce Lerou, at below-market prices.
Chile attracted foreign mining capital and expanded copper production, but some privatizations enriched regime insiders at public expense.
The hybrid model—state-owned Codelco alongside private miners—persisted for 35 years across governments of every political stripe, making Boric's 2023 lithium strategy and Kast's reversal both departures from a durable equilibrium.
Kast's inauguration has been framed as Chile's sharpest rightward shift since the end of the Pinochet era. His mining policy reopens a debate that Chile's post-1990 democracy had largely settled: how much of the country's mineral wealth should the state control directly versus regulate from a distance.