Teams race to rescue trapped workers at world's largest underground copper mine
The workers have been trapped for 18 hours without any contact with teams outside after a 4.2-magnitude tremor on Thursday, local time, rocked its flagship El Teniente, the world's largest underground copper deposit.
The incident triggered aftershocks that have made it impossible for rescuers to reach the area where workers are trapped, El Teniente's general manager Andres Music told a press conference.
Nine workers have also been injured.
Codelco expected aftershocks to settle within the next 12 hours, allowing the miner to send remotely operated equipment, similar to robots or drones, to help workers clear material blocking the tunnels, Mr Music said.
Codelco has halted copper extraction operations but is continuing to operate its concentrator and smelter, said Amador Pantoja, one of the union leaders at El Teniente.
"The plant and the smelter are operating normally, as we always have a supply of both ore and concentrate," he said. "It's the mine that is currently shut down."
Codelco is investigating whether the incident was due to natural causes in the earthquake-prone country, or mining activity, he said.
"The event we recorded yesterday is one of the largest events — if not the largest — that the El Teniente mine has experienced in decades," Mr Music said.
Nearly 100 people were on site to aid in the rescue, he said, noting the next 48 hours would be critical. He said neither explosives nor drilling had caused the accident.
Mr Music did not address how the incident would affect Codelco's output in producing areas of El Teniente.
Codelco on Friday said it will postpone the release of its second quarter results, initially planned for Friday morning, due to an accident at El Teniente mine.
The company said it will announce a new release date at a later time.
Andesita is one of Codelco's newest projects at its flagship El Teniente complex, and was due to begin production in the second quarter of this year.
The complex spans more than 4,500 kilometres of tunnels and underground galleries in the Andes mountains.
Reuters
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