Chili’s state-owned copper giant Codelco is looking for approval to restart parts of his flagship El Teniente-Mijn Less than a week after a fatal collapse of six employees and forced a complete suspension of operations, according to sources that are familiar with the issue.
The accident, activated by a seismic event of 4.2-magnitude last Thursday (July 31), put production in the world’s largest underground copper mine.
Codelco has formally asked Chile’s National Geology and Mining Service (Sernageomin) to make a partial reopening of the mine possible, pending the approval of safety and technical evaluations, two sources Reuters told.
The cave, which was activated by the earthquake, took place more than 900 meters underground and initially five miners.
Their bodies were restored for several days by a rescue team of more than 100 people, including veterans of Chile’s 2010 San José Mine Rescue. The body of a sixth miner, who was killed at the time of the collapse, was previously restored.
“We deeply regret this result,” said O’Higgins region officer Aquiles Cubillo on Sunday, which confirms the latest recovery. He offered no additional details about the cause of the collapse, which is still being investigated.
Operations in El Teniente were formally suspended by Sernageomin, Chile’s Geology and Mining Agency, shortly after the incident.
It also instructed Codelco to submit four extensive technical reports before a restart can be authorized. The reports must include: an analysis of the cause of the collapse, a recovery plan, an assessment of current fortification systems and a broader structural evaluation.
While underground mining has stopped, Codelco has maintained limited activities at El Teniente. The company is constantly carrying out maintenance at the processing factory and smelter, including activities in the anode ovens of the smeltering every two hours to keep critical equipment in operable condition.
Codelco said it had responded to three separate requests for information from Sernageomin and Chile’s Labor Inspectorate, but added that it could not yet estimate the financial or operational impact of the suspension.
Research into safety standards
Minister of Mijnbouw Aurora Williams ordered the temporary stopping of activities in the mine during the weekend. In the meantime, Energy Minister and Mijnbouw Diego Pacheco said on Sunday that Codelco would let an international audit know what went wrong.
“We are going to order an international audit to determine what we did wrong,” said Pacheco. Although no formal complaints had been received about the safety conditions of the site, he promised that a full investigation and appropriate corrective measures were underway.
El Teniente, located about 100 kilometers south of Santiago in the Andes Mountains, is a cornerstone of the activities of Codelco and the mining economy of Chile.
It produced 356,000 tons of copper in 2024, almost 7 percent of the total production of the country. The mine has operated for more than a century and contains a labyrinth of more than 4,500 kilometers (2,800 miles) tunnels.
The seismic event that caused the collapse, although relatively mild according to global standards. has asked questions about the structural integrity of older parts of the mine and the adequacy of current fortification systems.
A blow to expansion attempts
The accident is an important setback for Codelco because it strives to modernize its aging infrastructure and to stimulate production after years of sub -investment.
The collapsed area is supposed to be part of the Andesita part of the mine, a relatively small but strategically important part of the broader expansion of El Teniente, who includes the Andes Norte and Diamante projects.
The Andesita development is intended to help compensate in older zones and maintain the output levels during the following decade. The disruption is likely to wrinkle through the Codelco project pipeline, which is already under pressure due to the rising costs.
Although Chile has one of the world’s safest mining sectors – a fatal number of only 0.02 percent in 2024 – the series of incidents on Codelco sites has expressed concern for trade unions and supervisors.
The worst accident in the industry remains the fire from 1945 with El Teniente, with 355 miners killed and is one of the deadliest mine disasters in history.
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Publication of securities: I, Giann Liguid, has no direct investment interest in a company mentioned in this article.
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