Three brothers of Italian origin who sold fuel and did earthmoving work in Chañaral, gave life to Vecchiola, the mining supplier firm that invoices about US$ 100 million a year, which now seeks to increase its income by 50% in five years. years and to do so he made an organizational change, professionalizing the management and the board of directors, to enter the big leagues.
Founded 45 years ago by the brothers Guido, Edgar and Rinaldo Vecchiola in the capital of chañar in the Atacama Region, the company has a presence in Antofagasta, Copiapó and Santiago, explained its general manager Martín Piérola, who joined the company last year. as part of this new cycle.
80% of the firm’s income is concentrated in mining operations, such as earthworks, and its clients are metal mining companies such as Gold Fields, Las Cenizas, Mantos Blancos, Kinross, Lundin Mining, Ministerio Hales de Codelco and Anglo America, as well as the non-metallic firm SQM. But “we want to consolidate and expand our services, in order to reach more clients such as BHP, Amsa (Antofagasta Minerals), Glencore and El Abra, as well as the Codelco divisions where we are not present today,” explained Piérola.
“Today we are in a very good moment to continue this path; We work with more than 1,000 highly trained people, with a strengthened financial base and the desire to continue providing services to large and medium-sized mining companies.”
To do this, he noted, “we raised US$18.5 million in capital, which allows us to enable the achievement of larger revenues.” This financing process was done through a fund and included two other investors, in a transaction led by Summit Ridge Capital. “This confirms the confidence of large investors in this Chilean company,” said Piérola.
Summit Ridge Capital Partners highlighted that they have a positive vision of the massive earthworks industry for medium and large mining in Chile, which, they assure, is driven by tailwinds and whose boom will benefit important mining suppliers.
“We are proud to support the next chapter of Vecchiola’s development as a world-class supplier in the earthmoving industry, through our flexible capital solution, designed expressly for the company’s structural financing needs,” commented Juan Ignacio. Guzmán, partner and managing director of Summit Ridge Capital.
The goal is to increase billing by 1.5 times in five years, he noted, that is, reach US$150 million by 2029.
Martín Piérola, general manager of Vecchiola.
Vecchiola is a company that has profits, although they did not detail the figures, the general manager stated that in the coming years they will be focused on growing in the country, although he indicated that “we do not rule out” internationalization for after this cycle.
In investments, they plan to disburse between US$40 million and about US$60 million in five years.
ore grade
A phenomenon that negatively affects mining such as the drop in mineral grades is, paradoxically, a factor that benefits Vecchiola. “Between 2008 and 2022 the grade fell by 25%, which increased the mined material by 45%,” explained the general manager. That is, miners must extract more material and move it to obtain the same copper.
The company has 480 pieces of equipment for this, including trucks, excavators, drilling machines, bulldozers, front-end loaders, among other heavy machinery.
Piérola points out that to serve the mining sector they have highly specialized personnel and professionals in projects, mining planning, coordination, execution and control of contracts for the exploitation of open pit mines, presstriping and/or part of the unit operations, equipment rental, construction of mining roads and earthworks in general.
Organizational change
Last year, Vecchiola made a change in its structure and roles that lasted nine months, in order to professionalize the company, Piérola said. The founders and their families left the various positions in which they were in the firm and a professional board was formed made up of UC academic, Marcos Singer; Juan Luis Cumsille, a former banker who holds the position of president of the board, and Andrés Aguirre, with vast executive experience in multinational mining companies.
The president of Vecchiola highlighted that, with this new stage of the company – which has a new administration and corporate governance and capital to grow -, the company will be able to have “sustainable growth and will allow us to participate in projects of greater magnitude and duration.” .
The replacement also included the executive team: Martín Piérola arrived at the company at the end of 2023. “Today we are in a very good moment to continue this path, we work with more than 1,000 highly trained and committed people, with a strengthened financial base and with the deep desire to continue contributing to the country, providing quality services to large and medium-sized mining companies,” said Vecchiola’s top executive.
