Reuters cited Mr Diego Hernandez CEO of Codelco as saying that the Codelco's looming legal battle with mining major Anglo American could take 3 to 4 years to be resolved.

The state controlled company has vowed to exercise its 49% option in Anglo's southern Chilean assets but Anglo says it will not sell that much. The two are heading for a showdown over the long-standing option with Codelcoinsisting it has 49% option in Anglo American Sur while Anglo says that has been reduced to 24.5% after a surprise stake sale.

Mr Hernandez said that maybe Anglo American thinks it preferable to postpone this problem for 3 or 4 years rather than solving it now. But you can't mortgage the future for a short term victory.

He said that Anglo shocked Codelco and investors on Wednesday when it announced it sold 24.5% stake in its southern Chilean copper properties to Japan's Mitsubishi Corp for USD 5.4 billion, signaling an aggressive stance in negotiations with Codelco.

Mr Hernandez said earlier that Codelco will take legal action if Anglo rejects its option in January. We've already started the process of exercising the option and in January we're going to exercise it and they have to sell us their assets.

(Sourced from Reuters)