A worker has been killed in an accident at the Radomiro Tomic copper mine in Chile, the state-owned Codelco confirmed.
Based on preliminary information, the accident occurred at around 8:50am while the worker was carrying out maintenance in the mine’s crushing and materials handling area, Codelco said in a statement on Thursday.
Mining activities were immediately suspended following the incident.
Codelco has notified the relevant authorities and launched an investigation to determine the cause of the accident.
Major Codelco operation
Radomiro Tomic is an open pit mine located around 3,000m above sea level in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile.
It was the first mine developed entirely by Codelco and has been operating for more than three decades.
Last year, Radomiro Tomic produced around 280,000 tonnes of fine copper, making up nearly a quarter of Codelco’s annual production.
The Radomiro Tomic accident is the second fatal incident at a major Chilean copper mine in just over a week.
On 23 September, operations at BHP’s (ASX:BHP) Escondida mine, also located in northern Chile, were suspended following the death of a worker.
Write to Jackson Chen at Mining.com.au
Main Image: Codelco
