Two contractors die after slide at Chile’s El Teniente mine

Codelco confirmed on October 11 that two subcontractor workers died after a slide in the open-pit area of its El Teniente mine in Chile.

An earlier company statement said three workers had been affected. One was rescued and taken to a medical facility, while teams tried to reach the other two. The state-owned copper miner attributed the slide to heavy rainfall in central Chile.

Codelco’s subsequent update said the deceased worked for San Lorenzo, which provides services to contractor Aura. They were inspecting areas of the open-pit mine, where operations had stopped because of bad weather.

Investigations Police officers and prosecutors attended the site to establish the circumstances. Codelco said the workers’ families were informed before the deaths were publicly announced.