First blast at El Teniente tunnels worksite

16 February 2012 - New contracts - Chile

On 5 January last, at the El Teniente mine, the world’s biggest underground copper mine, located 80 km to the south of Santiago, a first blasting operation was carried out at the level of one of the tunnels’ two access galleries. Beforehand, the “Andean mountaineers” had spent three weeks securing the rock face. Preliminary drilling over a distance of 330 m is currently under way, in order to determine the terrain’s geological characteristics, as are earthmoving and clean-up works.
This project has been entrusted to a joint venture formed by VINCI Construction Grands Projets (60%) and Soletanche Bachy (40%), a subsidiary of Soletanche Freyssinet (VINCI Construction). It involves blasting two tunnels, each 9 km in length, as well as two intermediate access galleries (total length: 6 km). Total value: 280 million euros.