After a temporary shutdown that lasted five days as a result of severe damages caused by heavy rains that affected the center zone of Chile last weekend, Corporación Nacional del Cobre (Codelco) confirmed the El Teniente mine has gradually resumed production activities at both the mine and the mill.
Work was under way this week to restore an access road running to the orebody and the recovery of a mine-to-plant ore conveying system. Once those projects were complete, the mine initiated a stepwise startup of milling and concentrating facilities in accordance with the capacity of the water resources supply. The network still has some issues as a result of damage to the infrastructure. On the other hand, the company verified the proper performance of reservoirs and tailings storage facilities.
The 50-Hz main power supply is working smoothly, while the 60-Hz supply feeding the Sewell plant is down and on standby for the restart of other power stations in the region. In the meantime, some utility services for the mine will receive a 60-Hz power supply coming from an array of power generators on-site.
The general manager of El Teniente, Mauricio Larraín, thanked the commitment of all the employees in the division, as well as the efforts made by contractor companies supporting the recovery tasks aimed at putting the mine in full operation as soon as possible.
