Issues

New tunnel at El Teniente, Chile, in operation for over a century and now the largest underground Cu mine. This development will add 50 years of mine life and 17 Mt of Cu metal from ~2 km depth using panel caving, a new style of mass underground mining. This development illustrates a “light at the end of the tunnel” for supply of a large fraction of the world’s minerals, as mining shifts underground and reduces its surface footprint.

Photo credit: Codelco www.codelco.com