The executive arrives as CEO of the state-owned company with the authority to implement the changes it requires and with the experience gained from his previous achievements.
Jorge Gómez will officially join Codelco on July 13. His arrival will mark the beginning of a new era for the state-owned mining company.
This change of cycle will also be characterized by the renewed prominence of the Chief Executive Officer, who will once again assume a role that, to some extent, had been diminished during Máximo Pacheco’s tenure as Chairman.
Gómez arrives with the authority to make the changes Codelco needs, including the ability to appoint the team he considers best suited to accompany him on this journey. Both conditions were key factors in his decision to accept the position, which he had reportedly declined on several previous occasions. In addition, he comes with the explicit support of the mining industry, which recognizes him as one of the sector’s most important executives, and with the experience of having lived through a similar situation at Collahuasi, where he arrived in 2012 during one of the mine’s most challenging periods and managed to reverse its fortunes in approximately two years.
“While Collahuasi is not the size of Codelco, it provides him with particularly relevant experience because he not only managed a large-scale operation there, but also participated in a recovery process following a deep operational, labor, and safety crisis. In my view, the most important lesson from that experience is not to mechanically replicate what was done there, but rather to apply key management principles such as a strong focus on safety, reduction of operational variability, planning discipline, risk control, team alignment, and the building of trust with workers, communities, and shareholders,” says Juan Carlos Guajardo, Executive Director of Plusmining.
The Collahuasi Story
Gómez joined the mining company in 2012 when it was going through an extremely critical period in terms of safety, costs, productivity, and low production levels—a situation very similar to the one Codelco faces today.
The similarities are undeniable. In terms of safety, six operational fatalities had occurred within 18 months (the El Teniente accident resulted in six worker deaths), and labor relations were marked by strikes and protests. “Gómez diagnosed that the company was suffering from internal disillusionment caused by the safety and performance crisis, so he prioritized ‘putting the house in order’ through a simpler, more focused, and disciplined management approach. His strategy emphasized strengthening safety, improving productivity, reducing process variability, and rebuilding trust among employees, communities, and other stakeholders. He also reinforced internal communication, employee engagement, and transparent dialogue with local communities, recognizing that relationships with host territories were essential for creating shared value and supporting the company’s growth,” Collahuasi representatives explain.
The strategy he implemented focused on three phases: Stabilization (2013–2015): focused on workplace safety, stabilizing production levels, and controlling expenditures. Optimization (2015–2021): focused on maximizing the value of the existing business by improving asset reliability and reducing costs in areas that were not aligned with the company’s strategy and, finally, Growth (2021 onward): aimed at sustainably increasing business value after consolidating a high-performance culture.
The central pillar of these measures was the Risk Management Cycle (RMC), a cross-functional model designed to minimize uncertainty across all areas, from safety to financial management. Its purpose is to strengthen operational predictability, improve process planning, anticipate deviations, and ensure rigorous execution discipline under the principle that only activities properly incorporated into the plan are executed.
The year 2013 marked the turning point. By the end of the second quarter, the operational recovery had become firmly established, resulting in a significant increase in production and a reduction in costs. From that point forward, Collahuasi entered a period of greater operational stability, production growth, and management discipline, supported by long-term mine planning.
Juan Carlos Guajardo explains that Gómez’s leadership at Collahuasi was associated with improvements in production, productivity, costs, safety, and labor relations, but cautions against viewing it as an automatic formula for Codelco. “Codelco is a far more complex company, with multiple divisions, major structural projects, significant financial pressures, constraints inherent to a state-owned enterprise, unions with substantial historical influence, and constant political and public scrutiny. Therefore, the challenge is not simply to replicate what was done at Collahuasi, but to adapt a more rigorous management culture to an organization that is much larger, more exposed, and subject to greater institutional constraints,” he states.
He adds that Gómez could bring a management approach strongly focused on processes, risks, and results. However, for that to succeed, he will require effective support from the Board of Directors, a clear mandate, the ability to make difficult decisions, and labor relations based on both dialogue and accountability.
Diego Hernández, former CEO of Codelco and current director of Mexico’s Grupo BAL, who knows Gómez well, says the appointment has been received within Codelco with optimism and confidence. “He is a CEO who has mining experience, knows the company well, and has done an outstanding job at Collahuasi,” Hernández says. He adds that the task at Codelco is more complex because it operates multiple sites, but Gómez is familiar with them and could begin reorganizing things relatively quickly.
“Without a doubt, he will maintain a harmonious relationship with the unions and technical staff, which should reassure everyone that Codelco is in good hands,” he notes.
This last point was crucial to Collahuasi’s results. Ongoing and open communication with union leaders, employees, and business associations in Tarapacá led to ten collective bargaining processes during Gómez’s tenure, nine of them concluded ahead of schedule, all with agreements valued by both sides. Incentive schemes for contractors aligned with Collahuasi’s performance indicators were also introduced. “His goal was always to establish Collahuasi as a world-class asset, driven by the conviction of creating value not only for shareholders but also for communities, the region, and the country,” Collahuasi representatives state.
As a result of this management approach, Collahuasi became Chile’s second-largest copper operation and one of the five largest in the world, accounting for approximately 10% of the country’s copper production.
According to Juan Ignacio Guzmán, General Manager of GEM, Gómez’s familiarity with Codelco gives him a significant opportunity to begin turning around the company’s performance in terms of safety, production, and costs. “Codelco is far more complex than Collahuasi. Therefore, assuming that because Collahuasi was successfully turned around, Codelco will automatically follow the same path is not a trivial conclusion. However, I believe Gómez understands this very clearly. From that perspective, he will need not only strong support from the Board of Directors but also from the broader institutional framework responsible for ensuring the company’s successful performance.”
Source: Diario Financiero