Chile copper mine damage worse than first thought, inspection shows

Damage from last week’s collapse at Codelco’s biggest copper mine appears to be worse than first thought and extends to a section of the giant underground complex that was in full production.

Inspections have shown damage to 3,700 meters (12,000 feet) of tunnel at the El Teniente mine in Chile, according to the Public Prosecutor’s Office. That would be five times more than initial calculations of 300 meters with severe damage and another 400 meters with moderate damage given by the state-owned company.

Damage was identified not only in Andesita, a new section of the mine scheduled to ramp up over the coming years, but also in the Recursos Norte section, Aquiles Cubillos, regional prosecutor of O’Higgins, told reporters Thursday.

Damage at Recursos Norte, which began producing in early 2020, may restrict Codelco’s plans to resume mining at older areas of the complex. The collapse is a major setback for the company’s effort to recover from a yearslong slump and threatens to further tighten a copper market already disrupted by the threat of tariffs and stoppages at other mines.

Codelco declined to comment further on Friday, citing an active investigation into the incident that killed six people and injured nine.

(By James Attwood)