Chile's Codelco hopes to reach five trapped mine workers within 12 hours
SANTIAGO - Chilean copper giant Codelco aims to reach five trapped workers at its flagship El Teniente mine within the next 12 hours, following a collapse that killed one person, it said on Friday.
The workers have been trapped for 18 hours without any contact with teams outside after a 4.2 magnitude tremor on Thursday rocked the new Andesita unit of the massive mine, which is 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.
"The tunnels are closed, they've collapsed. There's no possibility of even radio communication," he said.
Codelco expected aftershocks to diminish 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, Music said.
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," he said.
Nearly 100 people were on site to aid in the rescue, Music said, noting that the next 48 hours would be critical. He said neither explosives nor drilling had caused the accident.
Music did not address how the incident would affect Codelco's output in producing areas of El Teniente. Codelco is due to report its financial results for the first half of the year on Friday, as previously scheduled.
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.
El Teniente, which opened in 1905, produced 356,000 metric tons of copper last year. The complex spans more than 4,500 kilometers of tunnels and underground galleries in the Andes mountains, about 75 kilometers southeast of Chile's capital Santiago.
In addition to one worker who died in the collapse, another nine people suffered injuries, Codelco said. REUTERS
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