Northern Chile copper mine halts operations after death of worker

SANTIAGO (Scrap Monster): The Antucoya copper mine controlled by Antafagasta Minerals in northern Chile suspended operations for a single day on Sunday following the death of a mine worker. Reports indicate that the worker fell from height while inspecting one of the mine’s installations.

According to company spokesperson, all operations at the mine remained suspended on Sunday. The incident is being investigated.

Antucoya is an oxide deposit approximately 125 km north-east of the city of Antofagasta, in Chile’s Antofagasta region. Construction of the project was completed in 2015. The mine produced nearly 12,000 tonnes of copper during the first quarter of the current year. The mine is estimated to produce 85,000 tonnes of copper cathodes per year.

Antucoya is owned by Antofagasta Minerals and Marubeni Corp. Antofagasta Minerals is a unit of Antofagasta Plc. Antofagasta plc is a Chilean business that operates in various sectors of the economy. It is one of the most important conglomerates of Chile with equity participation in Antofagasta Minerals, the railroad from Antofagasta to Bolivia, Twin Metals in Minnesota and other exploration joint ventures in different parts from the world.

Meantime, Chile reported huge drop in copper exports during the first quarter of the year. The exports during Jan-Mar ’16 amounted to $6.74 billion, significantly down by 15% when compared with the corresponding quarter last year. The Chilean copper exports had amounted to $7.975 billion during January to March 2015. Out of this, the exports of copper in concentrates totaled $2.888 billion, falling sharply by 18% over the previous year. The exports of copper in cathodes too fell sharply by 12% to $3.293 billion.