Jiménez Jofré, D, Varas Varas, F, Valdivia Osorio, R & Henríquez Leiva, H 2024, 'Construction method and support design of the mineral transfer system at the Andesita project, El Teniente mine ', in P Andrieux & D Cumming-Potvin (eds), Deep Mining 2024: Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Deep and High Stress Mining, Australian Centre for Geomechanics, Perth, pp. 503-516, https://doi.org/10.36487/ACG_repo/2465_29
(https://papers.acg.uwa.edu.au/p/2465_29_Jimenez/)
Abstract: Within the growth and deepening plans of El Teniente mine, the Andesita project corresponds to an ore production sustaining project located in the northwest part of the deposit, under the old productive level Quebrada Teniente.
The lithologies present in the Andesita project exploitation polygon correspond mainly to the El Teniente Mafic Complex (CMET) and, to a lesser extent, the intrusive dacitic porphyry. Minor bodies of dacitic porphyry igneous breccia, porphyry latite, hydrothermal breccias and quartz dykes are also recognised in the sector.
The project includes the execution of large materials handling infrastructure works such as chutes with a capacity of 1,700 t, located outside the footprint from where, through electro-hydraulic equipment located at the base of the chute, metal trains are loaded to transport the ore through the Teniente 8 level to the surface.
This work corresponds to a consolidation of the geotechnical characterisation, ground support criteria, strategy in the excavation stages, geotechnical monitoring, relevant findings during construction and lessons learned during construction in order to generate the baseline for future chutes. It should be noted that the location of these vertical excavations is outside the area considered to be affected by the abutment stress. This guarantees the useful life and strength productive continuity of the ore transfer system in this sector.

Keywords: El Teniente, large infrastructure works, geotechnical characterisation, ground support criteria