Codelco Relocates 1,817 Workers from Andes Norte Project After Suspending Activities

Key Facts

Chilean company Codelco has relocated 1,817 of the 2,460 people affected by the suspension of activities at the Andes Norte project, El Teniente division general manager Julio Diaz told the Senate Mining and Energy Committee on October 26, 2026. The total represents 74% of the reference group, according to Diaz’s statement, reported by BioBioChile. The number of people relocated had stood at 1,782, or 72%, under a plan the company announced on September 3. The latest figure reflects an increase in the reported share of the same group, as the company moved from presenting reemployment options to reporting how many people had been relocated by the time of the hearing. The Senate statement did not specify the status of the rest of the group, so the total does not indicate whether they had work alternatives or what would happen to them.

The relocation followed Codelco’s decision on August 4 to temporarily suspend development and construction activities at the Andes Norte project, part of the El Teniente division, as a precautionary measure to protect workers. The company said its decision was based on technical analyses of data collected over the previous six months, and that it had detected an emerging seismic phenomenon with characteristics different from known risks the mine had routinely managed. Codelco linked the potential risks to the project’s greater depth and said the phenomenon’s behavior remained under study and analysis. The stated reason for the suspension was therefore precautionary and related to the assessment of seismic risk, while the company did not set a date for resuming development and construction work. It also said the suspension applied only to Andes Norte activities and did not halt operations elsewhere in the El Teniente division.

In its September 3 announcement, Codelco said it had made reemployment options available to 1,782 people from the target group of 2,460, and that gradual integration would begin on September 7. Destinations announced at the time included the Diamante project, the recovery of production areas and shared services under the vice president of projects. In the same announcement, the company said 678 workers did not have reemployment alternatives available at that time, and that their wages would continue in the short term as it explored other options. This dated statement differs from the figure of 1,817 Diaz later presented to the Senate: the former described the options available in early September, while the latter counted those the company said had been relocated by October 26. According to the report, Diaz did not provide an updated breakdown of the rest of the group at the hearing.

Andes Norte is part of El Teniente’s project portfolio, which also includes Diamante and Andesita. Codelco says the portfolio is intended to extend the division’s operating life by 50 years, making continued work on the projects a focus of the mine’s long-term plans. The company had said physical progress at Andes Norte reached 81% during 2025, and that construction resumed in October of that year after the July 2025 seismic event. In its first-half 2026 results, it described Andes Norte as temporarily suspended, while Diamante was 59% complete and activity at Andesita was limited to critical maintenance work. These figures highlight the different status of projects in the portfolio, with work continuing at Diamante and critical maintenance at Andesita while development at Andes Norte remained suspended.

Codelco produced 564,000 tonnes of refined copper in the first half of 2026, down 11% from 634,000 tonnes in the same period of 2025. The company said the decline was concentrated mainly in the El Teniente division, where production fell 27% in the first half. Codelco attributed a significant part of the decline to operating constraints at the division following the July 2025 accident. These figures do not attribute the decline to the Andes Norte suspension that began in August 2026; they cover the period from January to June, before the suspension was announced. The company had said seismic monitoring systems, safety protocols and precautionary measures remained in place across all areas of El Teniente, including production areas, while development and construction at the project were suspended.