ID :
62737
Wed, 05/27/2009 - 15:08
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/62737
The shortlink copeid
JOURNEY INTO THE WORLD`S LARGEST UNDERGROUND COPPER MINE
Abdul Aziz Harun
KUALA LUMPUR, May 27 (Bernama) -- A group of Malaysian journalists who were
in Chile recently, had the chance to see something different from the usual eye
candy tourism, a view of the world's largest underground copper mine.
It was a journey deep inside the mountains of the Los Andes Range, in a
rugged copper mining facility called El Teniente, near a mining town called
Sewell located 85 kilometers south of Santiago, Chile's capital.
The trip was made possible by Malaysian Ambassador in Chile Abdullah Faiz
Zain who took the initiative to arrange the visit for the media.
The excitement was just too much to bear, especially when the group arrived
at a special room to be equipped with some gadgets required to be worn inside
the underground mine after a short briefing.
LIKE IN THE MOVIES
The visitors were required to wear a helmet equipped with electric light, a
safety belt complete with the battery for the light, a fluorescent jacket and
boots.
One of the visitors noted that the panorama resembled a James Bond movie set
up where the super spy destroyed the the super villian's secret hideout
underground, a state-of-art complex buried deep inside the mountain.
While the super villian hideout does not exists here, the facilities
provided deep underground is real and equally remarkable with some 2,500
kilometers of tunnel networks constructed deep inside the mountain.
"We have nine restaurants, two hospitals, even a train station among others,
inside this 14 level facility deep in this mountain alone", said the guide,
Romolo Giraudo Hellman when met at El Teniente recently.
El Teniente is one of the five principal operating divisions run by the
Chilean company, Codelco, or Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile (National
Copper Corporation of Chile) the world's main copper producer. Other four are
the Codelco Norte, Salvador, Andina and Ventanas.
A DIFFERENT WORLD UNDERGROUND
Hellman said the world's largest copper producing company is 100 percent
owned by the government and produced 1.66 million tonnes of the metal in 2007,
that covers 11 percent of the world's total, and it also owns the world's
largest known copper reserves and resources.
He said the company has more than 18,000 workers, with about 3,500 of them
stationed at El Teniente.
The visitors were then bundled into a van to begin the journey into the
tunnel that goes straight inside the breathtaking beautiful mountain of the Los
Andes Range. The particular mountain is about 2,500 meter from the sea level.
It was dark, bit spooky, so be sure you don't venture alone or get lost in
one of the tunnels. Hellman was always there shouting "SEMUA SEKALI" to make
sure that nobody was left behind and it was the only two Bahasa Malaysia words
that he learnt that day.
Along the journey, some 10 kilometers by van and by foot through the dark
tunnel, Hellman had many stories to tell.
A LABYRINTH OF PASSAGES
Since 1905, some 2,500 kilometers of tunnels have been constructed in the
mountains, of which some 800 kilometers are still in use, and each year about 64
kilometers of new tunnels and galleries are being excavated.
In one of the tunnels, the visitors witnessed a bulldozer that worked its
way through the narrow tunnel, digging through the walls and dumping the ore
into a big hole to be transported outside and processed.
Then there was the control room, where according to Hellman in the near
future, not only the mining work can be done in the comfort of one's living
room, but it can also be done in a living room thousands of miles away from the
mountain.
The drilling, blasting and rock crushing works can be carried out with a
push of a button in this control room, and everything can be monitored from the
internal cameras.
One would think that it would be very stuffy and warm, deep inside these
tunnels, but the visit proved otherwise.
A FAIRY TALE ENDING
Rommel said the facility had some 20 huge ventilation motors to maintain the
temperature and the enviroment inside so that it is comfortable for the workers.
Then the visitors were ushered to another level to be enthraled by yet
another remarkble sight, a visit to "La Caverna de los Cristales", a tight
locked up cavity that has gypsum crystals several meters long, with diameters
comparable to large tree trunks.
When this cavity was opened up, it was so spectacular that the mining
company preserved it from destruction and coloured lights have been placed
behind these crystals giving the cavern a fairyland appearance.
A trip to El Teniente is not complete without a visit to the Sewell Mining
town just outside the mountain.
Sewell, also known as the "city of stairs," was constructed in 1905 at 2,130
meters above sea level to house the miners but was abandoned in the early 1970s.
Today, three years after Unesco's World Heritage Comittee listed it as one
of the 10 new sites on World Heritage List, it provides a small museum for the
visitors to browse through the history of the place.
-- BERNAMA
KUALA LUMPUR, May 27 (Bernama) -- A group of Malaysian journalists who were
in Chile recently, had the chance to see something different from the usual eye
candy tourism, a view of the world's largest underground copper mine.
It was a journey deep inside the mountains of the Los Andes Range, in a
rugged copper mining facility called El Teniente, near a mining town called
Sewell located 85 kilometers south of Santiago, Chile's capital.
The trip was made possible by Malaysian Ambassador in Chile Abdullah Faiz
Zain who took the initiative to arrange the visit for the media.
The excitement was just too much to bear, especially when the group arrived
at a special room to be equipped with some gadgets required to be worn inside
the underground mine after a short briefing.
LIKE IN THE MOVIES
The visitors were required to wear a helmet equipped with electric light, a
safety belt complete with the battery for the light, a fluorescent jacket and
boots.
One of the visitors noted that the panorama resembled a James Bond movie set
up where the super spy destroyed the the super villian's secret hideout
underground, a state-of-art complex buried deep inside the mountain.
While the super villian hideout does not exists here, the facilities
provided deep underground is real and equally remarkable with some 2,500
kilometers of tunnel networks constructed deep inside the mountain.
"We have nine restaurants, two hospitals, even a train station among others,
inside this 14 level facility deep in this mountain alone", said the guide,
Romolo Giraudo Hellman when met at El Teniente recently.
El Teniente is one of the five principal operating divisions run by the
Chilean company, Codelco, or Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile (National
Copper Corporation of Chile) the world's main copper producer. Other four are
the Codelco Norte, Salvador, Andina and Ventanas.
A DIFFERENT WORLD UNDERGROUND
Hellman said the world's largest copper producing company is 100 percent
owned by the government and produced 1.66 million tonnes of the metal in 2007,
that covers 11 percent of the world's total, and it also owns the world's
largest known copper reserves and resources.
He said the company has more than 18,000 workers, with about 3,500 of them
stationed at El Teniente.
The visitors were then bundled into a van to begin the journey into the
tunnel that goes straight inside the breathtaking beautiful mountain of the Los
Andes Range. The particular mountain is about 2,500 meter from the sea level.
It was dark, bit spooky, so be sure you don't venture alone or get lost in
one of the tunnels. Hellman was always there shouting "SEMUA SEKALI" to make
sure that nobody was left behind and it was the only two Bahasa Malaysia words
that he learnt that day.
Along the journey, some 10 kilometers by van and by foot through the dark
tunnel, Hellman had many stories to tell.
A LABYRINTH OF PASSAGES
Since 1905, some 2,500 kilometers of tunnels have been constructed in the
mountains, of which some 800 kilometers are still in use, and each year about 64
kilometers of new tunnels and galleries are being excavated.
In one of the tunnels, the visitors witnessed a bulldozer that worked its
way through the narrow tunnel, digging through the walls and dumping the ore
into a big hole to be transported outside and processed.
Then there was the control room, where according to Hellman in the near
future, not only the mining work can be done in the comfort of one's living
room, but it can also be done in a living room thousands of miles away from the
mountain.
The drilling, blasting and rock crushing works can be carried out with a
push of a button in this control room, and everything can be monitored from the
internal cameras.
One would think that it would be very stuffy and warm, deep inside these
tunnels, but the visit proved otherwise.
A FAIRY TALE ENDING
Rommel said the facility had some 20 huge ventilation motors to maintain the
temperature and the enviroment inside so that it is comfortable for the workers.
Then the visitors were ushered to another level to be enthraled by yet
another remarkble sight, a visit to "La Caverna de los Cristales", a tight
locked up cavity that has gypsum crystals several meters long, with diameters
comparable to large tree trunks.
When this cavity was opened up, it was so spectacular that the mining
company preserved it from destruction and coloured lights have been placed
behind these crystals giving the cavern a fairyland appearance.
A trip to El Teniente is not complete without a visit to the Sewell Mining
town just outside the mountain.
Sewell, also known as the "city of stairs," was constructed in 1905 at 2,130
meters above sea level to house the miners but was abandoned in the early 1970s.
Today, three years after Unesco's World Heritage Comittee listed it as one
of the 10 new sites on World Heritage List, it provides a small museum for the
visitors to browse through the history of the place.
-- BERNAMA
