More tunnel awards at Chuquicamata
23 Apr 2013
Astaldi News Release
- Astaldi takes the value of its underground construction work at the world's largest copper mine in Chile to US$572 million following award of another US$152 million contract for construction of a further 11km of access tunnels.
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Another tunnel contract win for Astaldi at Chuiquicamata
- Work will begin next month (May 2013) for a duration of 26 months.
- The Italian company is already performing a first phase of underground works for Codelco, Chile's state-owned mining company, for excavation of 13.7km of access tunnels and 3.5km of emergency and ventilation shafts needed to transform the world's largest open-cut Chuquicamata copper mine into an underground operation.
- The work is being carried out as part of an investment plan totalling US$3.8 billion to switch production underground from 2018.
- The mine, which until recently was the world's largest annual producer of copper, is situated 1,650km north of Santiago, at an altitude of 2,870m. Its open pit is the world's largest at 4.3km long, 3km wide and more than 850m deep. That depth is expected to nearly double to 1,600m as production shifts underground.
- Conceptual engineering studies for the transformation were finalised in 2009, and design consultancy Hatch is overseeing the engineering, tunnelling, access and ventilation works that will be needed as part of the enabling infrastructure. The mine is expected to close later this year while these works continue.
- Alessandra Onorati of Astaldi said: "We have singled out the mining sector in Chile, which will see investments totalling approximately $70 billion over the next ten years. Codelco alone has announced investments of $15 billion in this sector over the next five years."
- Astaldi has been operating in Chile since 2008, and holds a 27.3% stake in the concessionaire company responsible for constructing and currently managing the Chacayes hydroelectric plant as part of a partnership with Australian company, Pacific Hydro.
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Contract win seals Astaldi's Chilean ambitions - TunnelTalk, February 2012
Progress at Chile's Chacayes hydro scheme - TunnelTalk, March 2010
Chilean mine invites access project proposals - TunnelTalk, November 2009
New access drives for might mine operation - TunnelTalk, September 2011
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