(Bloomberg) -- Codelco’s chief financial officer is moving to a new job with responsibility for lithium and not leaving the Chilean state mining giant, according to the company’s chairman.

The world’s No. 1 copper producer abruptly announced Alejandro Rivera’s resignation as CFO on Thursday, saying only that he would be pursuing “other professional challenges.”

In an interview Friday, Codelco Chairman Maximo Pacheco said that Rivera “will continue working with us in lithium.”

He wouldn’t elaborate on what the CFO’s new job would be, saying only that there would soon be “very good news about his new responsibilities in lithium.”

The Chilean government has given Codelco a lead role in a new public-private model for its lithium industry, under which the state will have a majority stake in areas considered to be of strategic importance.

“Lots of people have mentioned to us that we should not be distracted by lithium,” Pacheco said. “And we’re saying, look, we are not distracted. We have a plan, we have a growth strategy with lithium to partner with private companies in a separate company.”

--With assistance from Jacob Lorinc and James Attwood.

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