Facility

El Teniente Underground Mine

El Teniente (Rancagua, O'Higgins Region, Chile; altitude ~2,200-3,500m; 100% Codelco) is the world's largest underground copper mine by production volume, producing approximately 350,000-370,000 tonnes/year of copper. The mine has been in operation since 1906 (original Braden Copper Company). El Teniente sits within the Andes mountains and consists of approximately 2,400km of underground tunnels — a network so large it has its own internal transit system. Codelco's $5B+ 'New Mine Level' (NML) expansion project will access deeper, higher-grade copper ore to sustain production as the current primary mine level depletes. El Teniente is a block cave mine: a massive porphyry copper deposit is allowed to collapse under its own weight, and ore falls into draw points where it is collected by loaders. Source: Codelco Annual Report 2024.