MINE OF THE MONTH – EL TENIENTE/ANDINA
Chilean copper duo
Before Expomin, Paul Moore visited the Andina and El Teniente operations in Chile –
the second- and third-most productive mines in Codelco’s portfolio
I
N THIS month’s column, we focus on two related
operations within the stable of Corporación
Nacional del Cobre (Codelco). El Teniente is
about 80 km south of Santiago near the town
of Rancagua; Andina, at a higher altitude, lies
80 km northeast of Santiago.
Overall, Chile accounts for about 40% of world
copper production; of this amount, Codelco accounts
for about 38%, while the rest is dominated by the
Escondida and Collahuasi operations.
Codelco El Teniente
El Teniente remains the world’s largest underground
copper mine. The mining method is referred to as
‘boxholing’, a type of intensive panel caving using
a series of crosscuts where the ore is blasted down-
wards in a grid pattern of drawbells.
The method is totally gravity-dependent, meaning
that none of the ore is raised in the mine. The ore
passes by a material-handling system then by LHDs
to ore hoppers above an electric ore-train system,
which transports the ore to the Colón processing
plant. From there, the concentrate arrives at the main
Caletones smelter. Tailings from Colón are carried
down the mountain via an 84 km pipeline, the largest
of its kind, to the Carén tailings dam.
MINING ON A MASSIVE SCALE
At just over 2,000 m above sea
level in the low Andes,
El Teniente has
Development in the Andina Sur Sur open
pit, almost 4,200 m above sea level.
Inset, below: Automated Toro 0010 LHD
equipped with Sandvik Automine system
12 Mining Magazine July 2006
12-13MM0607.indd 12
eight mine production sectors. Each sector operates
like an individual mine, with its own assigned leader,
miners and equipment fleet. The latter mainly
consists of Atlas Copco drill rigs and Toro 0010 LHDs,
which load ore from the drawbells.
Overall, in the production areas, El Teniente oper-
ates 62 LHDs (mostly Toro models); 14 drill jumbos
(12 for use with explosives, two non-explosive that
use hydrofracturing); three low-profile dumper
trucks; and a large number of rock breakers, both
stationary and mobile.
The development areas contain 16 jumbos (varying
types), ten telescopic booms and six truck platforms.
Two main 820 t/h Krupps EB 15-20 jaw crushers are
on level six: one in the Pipa Norte orebody and the
other in Diablo Regimiento. A 1,700 t/h Allis-Chalm-
ers 54x74 gyratory crusher is also on this level. At the
main processing plant in Colón, a few kilometres from
the mine, there is a larger 2,600 t/h Allis-Chalmers and
a 3,200 t/h Fuller model – both gyratory crushers.
Mining Magazine visited level six, which alone
produces 23,000 t/d of ore and operates 11 LHDs,
eight of which are Toro 0010 models and the other
three from different manufacturers. Levels five and
six are the main production levels, now with an ore
output of about 131,000 t/d. Levels four and five will
continue to operate for another five years.
Ultimately, the reserves at El Teniente are so vast
that production could last at least another century.
Along with new underground developments, a
20,000 t/d open pit is planned to enter operation in
2009/10 to remove the remaining high-grade ore
pillars left in the upper levels.
A new mine-level project is under way and Chile’s
SKM Minmetal, a long-term Codelco engineering
partner, will soon begin a prefeasibility study on this
while also developing the engineering for a new
production sector of the existing Pilar Norte mine.
SKM is also a construction management partner on a
project to raise milling capacity at El Teniente.
Elsewhere in Chile, SKM is involved in the con-
ceptual engineering of the Los Bronces expansion
project for Anglo American, the Esperanza project
for Antofagasta Minerals, the Aguas Lequena and
Aguas Caya projects for Collahuasi as well as work for
Barrick’s Zaldivar.
A series of expansions have been undertaken at
El Teniente in recent years. In 2001, the mine was
producing 350,000 t/y of fine copper. A rise in pro-
duction capacity to 430,000 t/y, driven by the sharp
rise in global demand, necessitated a major upgrade
of the 11 km single-track electric railway which forms
the basis of the mine’s ore transport. The ore-loading
hoppers are inside the mine, and the standard-gauge
23/6/06 5:01:16 pm

The Colón
processing
plant
line runs underground for 7 km, surfacing for the
final 4 km to reach the unloading, processing and
smelting facilities.
The rail fleet includes 24 locomotives and 342 ore
cars. These range in size from 25 to 100 t; the larger
cars (42 100 t and 100 80 t) are used on the Teniente
8 rail line, with smaller types on the Esmeralda,
Teniente 5 Sur and Teniente 5 Norte lines.
PIONEERING AUTOMATION
Codelco has been using automation at the mine in
the form of LHDs equipped with Sandvik’s Automine
system. These have been in operation in the Pipa
Norte block cave in El Teniente since August 2004.
The operator station lies about 10 km from the
mining areas in a surface control room and one sys-
tem operator is managing the three-strong LHD fleet.
The LHDs were originally used in five production tun-
nels and two tipping points, leading into one crusher,
but their coverage has now been extended as far as
production tunnel eight, and further extensions are
planned during the rest of this year.
At the Diablo Regimiento orebody, the three LHDs
will work from five production tunnels feeding three
tipping points into one crusher. Another operator
station is provided for this system. Ultimately, as
that part of the mine expands, it is planned to have
as many as nine automated LHDs working at Diablo
Regimiento feeding three crushers.
The 2005 production figure stood at 438,000 t of
fine copper. Daily production rates are about 1,200 t.
Last year, El Teniente accounted for about 25% of the
Codelco total. The El Teniente copper is transported
by rail or truck to San Antonio port for shipment,
with the breakdown of cathode/anode versus ingot
shipments at about 20/80.
Outokumpu Technology signed a US$20 million
turnkey contract in April to revamp sulphuric acid
plant No 1 at the Caletones smelter. The project will
boost the existing sulphuric-acid plant’s capacity,
improve operability and reduce current maintenance
efforts. Outokumpu’s scope consists of engineering,
design, delivery, construction, erection and commis-
sioning of specific equipment in different plant areas.
The plant will be operational by the end of 2007.
CODELCO COPPER PRODUCTION FIGURES 2004/05
Codelco Norte Salvador
Production 2004 (000 t) 983
2005 (000 t) 965
Investment 2004 (US$ million) 401
Net cathode cost 2004 (US¢/lb) 32.3
2005 (US¢/lb) -4.9
1 Codelco’s share of production
Codelco Andina
Andina’s Sur Sur and Don Luis open-pit mining
operations are located 4,200 m above sea level. The
Rio Blanco sector is mined by underground methods,
from the Third Panel mine, at an elevation of 3,000-
3,600 m. The mine’s three main levels are known as
LHD, Grizzly and Transport.
The ore from the open-pit mine is transported to
an underground primary crusher via an ore pass sys-
tem or via shafts. The underground ore production is
transported to another underground crusher system.
Total ore treatment is about 70,000 t/d, although
via expansions to the existing mines and a major
leaching project, Codelco Andina aims to have an
eventual processing capacity of 230,000 t/d.
The climate at this altitude can sometimes cause
problems with mine production; annual snowfall
averages about 11-12 m, and 20 or more days are
typically lost to bad weather. The open-pit mine oper-
ates a fleet of 11 186 t 730E Komatsu trucks; three
28 yd3 L-1400 Le Tourneau front-end loaders; two
Svedala SKS drill rigs (this Svedala business has since
been acquired by Terex); six Komatsu bulldozers; one
wheeled dozer; and three graders. The underground
mine operates a fleet of 11 7 yd3 LHDs along with
three types of underground trucks: four 80 t Tamrock
Supras; six 50 t Atlas Copco MT5000s; and two 50 t
Kiruna K503 models.
Both mines feed into initial crushing stations at
3,200 m, then the ore travels 5 km on a conveyor to
the main concentration plant at 3,020 m, which has
been excavated inside the mountain. This consists
of one Siemens SAG mill, three rod/ball mills, one
additional ball mill and onto the main flotation area,
which has a bank of Outokumpu OK-100 tank cells.
The finished concentrate is transported down the
mountain by pipeline to another processing plant,
at 1,500 m above sea level, where the concentrate is
filtered and dried, and the molybdenum is leached
out. The copper concentrate is shipped to the
Ventanas port and smelter and exported, mainly to
Brazilian and Asian markets.
Codelco expects to start pilot bioleaching of low-
grade primary sulphide ores at Andina by the end
of the year. Two 50,000 t heap-leach operations will
compare the results of conventional leaching tech-
A Komatsu 730E haul truck at Andina
Andina El Teniente El Abra (49% Codelco;
51% Phelps Dodge)1
75 240 436 107
78 248 438 103
59 64 331 38
88.6 51.3 60.9 –
141.7 46.5 61.5 –
nology with that of new company BioSigma on the
primary sulphide, which is chalcopyrite. BioSigma is
a joint venture between Codelco and Japan’s Nippon
Mining & Metals to develop bioleaching technology.
Other companies in the group are considering
similar moves. At El Abra, 49% held by Codelco and
51% by Phelps Dodge, the mineable copper-oxide
reserves will be exhausted by 2010, but, below that,
there is a significant sulphide deposit. A feasibility
study is due for completion this year, which is looking
at the possibility of leaching these ores to extend the
mine’s oxide operation.
At the company’s largest division, Codelco Norte,
BioSigma has completed laboratory tests and is pilot-
testing three heap-leach operations with a capacity
of 2,000 t each to bioleach secondary sulphides.
Bioleaching sulphides would allow Codelco to
continue using a significant proportion of its installed
capacity to produce copper cathodes from the large
tonnages of low-grade sulphide ores that are cur-
rently not being mined.
CODELCO ELSEWHERE
The most significant addition to Codelco’s port-
folio is the Gaby project it is advancing in a joint
project with China Minmetals. Gaby will include an
open-pit mine and processing facilities to produce
150,000 t/y of pure copper in the form of cath-
odes. The US$766 million project is 120 km south
of the city of Calama in Chile’s northern Region II
and is expected to begin producing in 2008.
Gaby will ultimately be a larger pit than Chu-
quicamata, part of Codelco Norte. Last February,
China Minmetals secured a US$330 million loan
from the China Development Bank to support
the joint venture. Codelco will supply 836,250 t of
copper via the joint venture to Minmetals Non-fer-
rous Metals Co Ltd, a Minmetals subsidiary, over
the next 15 years.
Under the deal, Minmetals will also have an
option to buy a 25-49% stake in the mine. The
2006 deal finalised an earlier agreement (signed
in May 2005) that was scrapped over a disagree-
ment on clause details.
Codelco recently awarded some development
contracts for Gaby. Engineering giant, Fluor Corp,
also an engineering contractor at Escondida,
is understand to have won the basic engineer-
ing contract at Gaby on an EPCM basis, despite
competition from Aker Kvaerner, SNC Lavalin,
Bechtel and others. A separate contract for a
solvent-extraction plant has been awarded to
Bateman Litwin (see p6). In addition, the Suez
Energy Andino unit of Belgium’s Suez Energy has
announced plans to install a 200 MW coal-fired
plant to supply energy to Gaby.
July 2006 Mining Magazine 13