The Arc de Triomphe of France can be swallowed by the sinkhole in Chile that has doubled in size, forcing authorities to urge the closure of a nearby copper mine.
The July 30th-emerging sinkhole is currently 50 metres (160 feet) broad and descends 200 metres (656 feet). The black pit could also accommodate Seattle’s Space Needle and six Brazilian statues of Christ the Redeemer with their enormous arms extended.
Late on Saturday, the National Service of Geology and Mining announced that it was still looking into the huge hole near the Alcaparrosa mine, which is located around 665 kilometres (413 miles) north of Santiago and is run by the Canadian business Lundin Mining (LUN.TO).
The geology and mining agency announced it was beginning a “sanctioning process” in addition to issuing a halt work order. The specifics of what that action would entail were not disclosed by the government.
An inquiry for comments was not immediately answered by Lundin. The company last week stated that it was investigating the cause of the hole and that neither employees nor members of the community were impacted.
80 percent of the property is owned by Lundin, with the remaining 20 percent each controlled by Japan’s Sumitomo Metal Mining Co Ltd (5713.T) and Sumitomo Corporation (8053.T).
The pit, which was initially close to Tierra Amarilla, was about 25 metres (82 ft) across and had water at the bottom.
The geology and mining service announced that it had set up water extraction pumps at the mine and will check the mine’s underground chambers for any possible over-extraction in the coming days.
Local officials are concerned that the Alcaparrosa mine may have flooded underground, causing the surrounding terrain to become unstable. According to Tierra Amarilla Mayor Cristobal Zuniga, it would be “totally out of the norm.”
Featured Image: Esquireme.com
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