Codelco's El Teniente Mine Closure Will Cause Copper Production Loss

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Written by Amir Richani for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Sections of Codelco's (Santiago, Chile) El Teniente mine are still under inspection while an investigation into the reasons behind the mine collapse continues.

Codelco's Director, Maximo Pacheco, reported that the closure of the El Teniente mine would lead to an estimated production loss between 20,000 tons and 30,000 tons, representing about US$300 million. This follows the collapse of a section of the mine that led to the death of six miners on July 31.

After 10 days of halted production, Codelco restarted operations in sections of the mines on August 10, following inspections from Sernageomin and the Office of Labor that deemed some sections of the asset as safe for workers to return.

According to Codelco, so far, the Panel Esmeralda, Panel Reno, Pilar Norte, Diablo Regimiento, and Pacífico Superior sections of the mine have already begun production, while the Dacita and Reservas Norte were expected to start up soon.

On Tuesday, the company sent 59,100 tons of minerals to the Colon plant and another 8,300 tons to Sewell. The company's smelter is gathering supplies to resume operations by August 14.

Since the restart of production, the number of miners who have returned to work has been exponentially increasing.

Meanwhile, by August 13, the Recursos Norte, Andesita, Andes Norte, and Diamente mine sections remained shut as the safe and progressive restart of operations persisted.
,br> Investigations into the mine's collapse, which led to workers' deaths, continue. Pacheco emphasized that "we have fully cooperated with all the proceedings and requests from the Prosecutor's Office and the PDI, responding to the various investigation requests in a timely manner."

Codelco also chose Mark Cutifani, former chief executive officer of Anglo American, to lead the evaluation of international experts about the accident in the El Teniente mine.

El Teniente is one of Codelco's largest assets. Last year, the mine had an output of 356,400 tons of copper, while this year, between January and June, production reached 172,000 tons, almost 15.8% more than during the same period last year.

Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Metals & Minerals Plant Database can click here for a profile on the El Teniente mine.

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