The continuous mining was a technology developed by Codelco and a firm called IM2.
FORBES: Continuous Mining To Help Chile Extend Mine Life, Save Money
Freeport competes with other miners such as the Southern Copper, Codelco and Newmont Mining.
FORBES: Indonesian Miners Strike Another Blow For Freeport At Grasberg
Probes by Codelco's engineers found the miners still alive 17 days after the rockfall.
Codelco mobilised contractors and equipment from around the world to drill three separate rescue shafts.
Codelco is the vehicle Chile has decided to use to capture the major part of those rents.
Encina said Codelco is working to convert one of its biggest mines, Chuquicamata, from open pit to underground.
FORBES: Continuous Mining To Help Chile Extend Mine Life, Save Money
Freeport competes with Southern Copper, Codelco, Barrick Gold and Newmont Mining.
Andre Sougarret, mines manager for state-run copper company Codelco and on-site rescue coordinator, said that operation was stopped Tuesday while the drill head was changed.
Codelco also needed to find a way to get more ore out of existing mines because for political reasons, it cannot buy new mines, he said.
FORBES: Continuous Mining To Help Chile Extend Mine Life, Save Money
Codelco has to be seen as the vehicle through which the country at large captures a share of the rent from the exploitation of its copper reserves.
Finding the mine's owners overwhelmed by Chile's worst mining accident in decades, he ordered his government to take charge and called in experts from Codelco, the big state-owned copper producer.
The fact that the metal is currently priced at an all-time high suggests that Freeport, and its competitors like Southern Copper, Codelco and Newmont Mining, can expect high revenue figures for this year.
FORBES: Costly King Copper Could Turn Freeport Into A Pauper
This is the economic rationale behind the decision not to privatise Codelco and behind our business plan aimed at doubling the value of the company by 2006, while transferring the whole of its profits to the Treasury.
Last week, the mere mention of a strike by workers at Codelco Norte, Chile's state-owned mining group and the world's largest producer of copper, caused prices to surge even higher because of fears that supplies would become shorter still.
应用推荐