On Tuesday, experts in Chile were looking into a gigantic sinkhole the size of a tennis court that had developed close to a copper mine in the Atacama desert.
The National Geology and Mining Service (Sernageomin) said in a statement that experts were sent to investigate the hole, which was around 32 meters (104 feet) in diameter and twice as deep and appeared in a region about 500 miles north of Santiago during the weekend.
Around the hole in the Tierra Amarilla municipality, next to the Alcaparrosa mine run by Canadian company Lundin Mining, a 100-meter security barrier has been established.
The sinkhole has remained stable since its discovery, the business claimed in a statement, adding that there has been “no harm to workers, equipment, or infrastructure.”
The Alcaparrosa underground mine’s development activity in one region has been temporarily paused as a precaution, the firm stated.
David Montenegro, head of Sernageomin, said that investigators would try to figure out what caused the collapse and “guarantee that all safety measures are taken to safeguard the lives of workers and residents nearby the site.”
The municipality of Tierra Amarilla, which has about 13,000 residents, is led by Cristian Zuniga, who informed journalists that the sinkhole was unprecedented.
“We ask that the cause be clarified: whether the collapse is the product of mining activity or something else,” he said.
Chile is the world’s largest copper producer, responsible for a quarter of global supply.