Overview
Stage | Production |
Mine Type | Underground |
Commodities |
- Copper
- Molybdenum
- Gold
- Silver
- Sulphuric acid
|
Mining Method |
|
Production Start | ...  |
Mine Life | 2072 |
El Teniente is the largest underground copper deposit in the world. |
Source:
p. 15
Codelco, as a productive business, grouped all the deposits (The El Teniente, Andina, Exotica, Chuquicamata and El Salvador) into a single mining, industrial and commercial corporation.
Codelco Corp. operates seven mine sites (known as “divisiones”): Chuquicamata, Ministro Hales, Radomiro Tomic, Gabriela Mistral, Salvador, Andina, El Teniente, in addition to the Ventanas Smelter and Refinery.
Contractors
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Deposit Type
- Porphyry
- Breccia pipe / Stockwork
Summary:
Chile’s El Teniente deposit is the largest known porphyry Cu-Mo orebody (>70 Mt Cu), and is genetically related to Late Miocene–Early Pliocene igneous activity on the western slopes of the Andean Cordillera (cf. Howell and Molloy, 1960, Camus, 1975, Cuadra, 1986, Skewes and Stern, 1995). The deposit is 2700 m long by 1000 to 1700 m wide and is elongated in a N-S direction, with a recognized vertical extent of about 1800 m. Approximately 80% of the copper at El Teniente is distributed within a stockwork of mineralized veinlets and minor hydrothermal breccias within pervasively altered andesites, basalts and gabbros that are part of the Upper Miocene country rocks. Two intrusive bodies occur within the deposit, the Sewell Diorite (actually a tonalite) in the southeast part of the orebody and the dacitic Teniente Porphyry in its northern part. The Teniente Porphyry occurs as a north-south trending dike 1500 m long and 200 m wide. Minor quartz-diorite or tonalite intrusions known as the Central Diorite and the Northern Diorite occur along the eastern side of the deposit. Hydrothermal breccias commonly occur along the contacts of intrusive bodies with the country rocks. The Braden Breccia is a conspicuous diatreme in the center of the deposit that forms a pipe 1200 m in diameter at the surface, narrowing to 600 m at a depth of 1800 m. The Braden diatreme pipe is poorly mineralized (~0.3% Cu), but it is surrounded by the copper-rich Marginal Breccia, a discontinuous rim of tourmali ........

Summary:
A typical level model used at El Teniente mine: block caving, production, ventilation, transport and crushing.
Teniente Projects Portfolio consists of the following projects: Andes Norte Nuevo Nivel Mina (NNM), Diamante and Andesita, formerly Nuevo Nivel Mina, the original project, and which will extend the division operations by 50 years. We started mining Teniente Level 9, the deepest level compared to other areas currently in production.
Source:

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Flow Sheet:
Summary:

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Reserves at December 31, 2021:
Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade | Contained Metal |
Proven
|
885 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.97 %
|
8.5 Mt
|
Probable
|
373 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.47 %
|
1.8 Mt
|
Proven & Probable
|
1,258 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.82 %
|
10.3 Mt
|
Measured
|
1,415 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.95 %
|
13.4 Mt
|
Indicated
|
1,091 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.79 %
|
8.6 Mt
|
Inferred
|
2,040 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.65 %
|
13.3 Mt
|
Total Resource
|
4,546 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.78 %
|
35.4 Mt
|
Corporate Filings & Presentations:
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