AUG. 14, 2019

President Piñera inaugurates mining operations in Calama: “This Chuquicamata underground project will help keep Chile moving forward.”

The new underground site is one of the biggest ever mining projects. It involves investment of over US$5 billion and will create 2,200 new direct jobs.

President Sebastián Piñera launched the operations of the Codelco Chuquicamata underground cave site on Wednesday. The project will extend production at one of the world’s largest copper deposits by at least 40 years.

The mine will progressively increase production over the next seven years until it reaches over 320,000 tons of fine copper and over 16,000 tons of molybdenum by 2026.

The Chuquicamata underground mine will entail investment of over US$5 billion and will create 2,200 direct jobs.

“This operation will have very important impacts on productivity, pollution and energy savings. It is therefore not only a step forward involving 140,000 tons per day - it also introduces a new form of production,” the President said. He was speaking at the launch ceremony at Chuquicamata, where he was accompanied by Mining Minister Baldo Prokurica, Codelco Board Chairman Juan Benavides and CEO Nelson Pizarro.

After 104 uninterrupted years of open pit operations, Chuquicamata has begun to work the major mineral reserve located a little over a kilometer underneath the current deposit.

The underground operation will allow for more modern, efficient and sustainable production. It will reduce particulate matter (PM10) emissions by 97%, will not increase water use and will decrease diesel use. The new operations will also increase the mine’s productivity by 40%.

“We are at the cutting edge. We are making history by building this modern underground mine at Chuquicamata,” the President said after touring the underground deposit.

The finished projects include a vertical air extraction shaft that is 918 meters deep and will allow stale air from the mine to be extracted; two clean air injection tunnels; the main tunnels, one of which is 6.3 kilometers long and will be used to transport ore via a conveyor belt and a two-way access tunnel measuring 7.5 kilometers; a substation that provides energy; and two enormous air injection ventilators and four air extraction ventilators.

In addition, tunnels covering a total of 148 kilometers are also being built, along with ore management system assembly projects with 15 kilometers of conveyor belts, two crushing rooms and the respective transfer stations. An Integrated Operations and Management Center will be built, as well as the northern industrial area, which will have offices, meeting rooms and a dining room.

“This Chuquicamata underground project will help keep Chile moving forward,” President Piñera said.

Chuquicamata is the second operation in the world to transition from open pit to underground mining. The only other mine to do so is South Africa’s Palabora, which is 20 times smaller than the Chilean deposit.