A hole in the ground larger than a tennis court appeared in Chile’s Atacama Desert over the weekend
Chilean authorities have launched a probe over a huge sinkhole that appeared near a copper mine in the country’s Atacama Desert over the weekend.
Experts from the country’s National Geology and Mining Service (Sernageomin) started working on the site in Tierra Amarilla – where some 13,000 people reside – on Tuesday.
It has a diameter 32 meters. This makes it more than a tennis court. “There’s considerable distance, approximately 200 meters (656 feet), to the bottom,” Sernageomin director David Montenegro said.
This agency will investigate the causes of collapse. “ensure that all safety measures are taken to safeguard the lives of workers [at the nearby Alcaparrosa mine] and communities close to the site,”He said he would.
“We haven’t detected any material down there, but we have seen the presence of a lot of water,” Montenegro said.
Cristian Zuniga was the Mayor of Tierra Amarilla. He described it as a sinkhole. “unprecedented”You are required to understand. “whether the collapse is the product of mining activity or something else.”
Lundin Mining in Canada, the operator of the copper mine at Alcaparrosa, stated that development had been stopped there following the discovery of the sinkhole.
This phenomenon was “no impact to personnel, equipment, or infrastructure,” it said, adding that the nearest home was located some 600 meters (0.3 miles) away from it.
LEARN MORE WATCH: Mumbai sinkhole swallows parked car in seconds
Company added that the security perimeter around the sinkhole has been constructed and has maintained stability ever since it was discovered.
Chile is the world’s largest producer of copper and is responsible for a quarter of the global supply of a metal that is widely used in electrical equipment such as wiring and motors.
[ad_2]
