Industry Thoughts: Rising to the Occasion while Going Underground
The subterannean future unfurls
“With mines so big and ore grades decreasing, it is more profitable to build a subterranean mine. In the future, environmental issues and the population’s desires will prohibit mining companies from new open-pit mines. Regulation and revenues will drive that shift in parallel.”
Adolfo Sicilia, CEO, OSSA
“Chile already has important underground operations, such as El Teniente and Chuquicamata, and BHP is also considering making Escondida an underground mine. During the construction process of an underground mine, it is possible to encounter some geological problems, such as hot springs, fracturing, high density, or rock bursts. Still, these challenges can be addressed in engineering development.”
Guillermo Ibarra, General Manager Chile, Systra Subterra
“Descending and returning from an underground mine can often consume up to three hours of valuable time. To address this, we have integrated the Spot Robot developed by Boston Dynamics into our operations. This tireless worker eliminates the need for breaks or snacks, resulting in remarkable optimization of tasks and processes.”
Sandro Tavonatti, CEO, Sigdo Koppers SKIC
“As a company, we help make mining operations more efficient by introducing innovative technology. Over time, we have been working towards automating our processes and machinery. This automation decreases the staff required for our operations, leading to lower extraction costs.”
Fernando Vivanco, General Manager, Master Drilling
“To date in Chile, full-service mining has not been required by our clients. Our clients are highly competent, very proud miners who manage operations extremely well. Our clients here tend to carry out the long and medium-term planning, focusing on their asset and ensuring that they are in control of how the commodity is extracted in order to meet downstream process requirements.”
Darrell White, Executive General Manager, Thiess
