Collaboration of a mine in Chile: research is intensifying to save five minors

Rescue teams intensified research on Friday to find five minors trapped after a collapse that killed a copper mine of El Teniente in Chile, the largest underground mine in the world. Mine activities have been suspended.

The Mine of the Public Group Codelco produces 356,000 tonnes per year, or 6.7% of copper production in Chile, the world’s leading supplier of this metal.

“We are going to take a temporary measure to suspend the exploitation (…) of El Teniente,” said the Minister of Mines, Aurora Williams, to journalists.

Blocked minors worked on the extension of this mine some 900 meters deep. The operation has 4,500 km of galleries.

Collapsed galleries

At least a hundred rescuers participate in the operation without having yet managed to get in touch with the minors, said the director general of the Andres Music mine. “So far, we have not been able to contact them. The galleries are closed, they are collapsed, “he said at a press conference.

Michael Miranda, a brother of one of the minors, told AFP that families had not been informed about how the accident occurred. “They didn’t explain anything to us. No one has approached to talk about it, to tell us if my brother is well or not, whether or not whether or not, “he deplored in front of the Codelco offices in the city of Rancagua, 100 km south of Santiago. The wife of this minor is pregnant “and no one in the company has contacted her.” No psychological support, nothing, ”he added.

The rescuers know the exact place where workers trapped in El Teniente are, because they have location devices, according to Andres Music.

“Seismic event”

The accident occurred Thursday afternoon following a “seismic event” whose origin-natural or caused by boreholes-is still under study.

The shock, with a magnitude of 4.2 according to the statements, caused the death of a worker and injured nine others. Most have already been released. “This is one of the most serious events, if not the most serious, that the El Teniente site has known for decades,” said the director.

The next 48 hours are crucial for research operations, in which certain rescuers participated who had managed to save 33 minors blocked in a mine in the Atacama desert in 2010.

“What we want here is that they conduct an in -depth investigation. (…) We have pointed out many irregularities, ”assured AFP José Maldonado, union leader of El Teniente. “The mountain is already saturated and begins to collapse”, which would have caused a subsidence and not an earthquake, he accused.

Chile is the world’s largest producer of copper, with 5.3 million tonnes in 2024. Its mining industry is one of the safest in the world. Last year, the mortality rate was 0.02%, according to the national geology and mines department.

AFP

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