Codelco, the University of Chile, and the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile join forces to create the Institute of Complex Mining

The institute was created in response to a structural transformation of the industry, where operations will have to face greater levels of geological, operational, social, environmental, and safety complexity. Underground mining, which currently represents just over 30% of Codelco's production, will increase substantially in the coming decades, while large deposits exploited using opencast methods will be progressively converted to underground operations.

This transition requires strengthening knowledge, innovation, and technological development capabilities in areas critical to the continuity and sustainability of production. Based on this assessment, the new organisation will operate as an autonomous entity, with its own board of directors and professional governance, guided by specific industrial needs and capable of executing highly complex projects over 10 to 20 years.

The institute will focus on four strategic areas of research: advanced geosciences, geomechanical design, mechanisation and automation in high-risk areas, and data and artificial intelligence applied to operations, seeking to significantly enhance both knowledge development and the creation of technology-based businesses and companies within the mining industry.

“Our purpose is to be a pillar of sustainable development in Chile and the world. What we have signed is exactly that: we are driving technological development that will allow us to address structural challenges for the mining of the future, while strengthening in Chile the knowledge that the global industry needs but does not yet possess.

These are the solutions for 21st-century mining that will be developed here, by observing and engaging with the world and with Chilean talent trained in our historic universities. This initiative is a contribution that honors and transcends Codelco,” commented Máximo Pacheco, Chairman of the Board of the state-owned company.

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/mining/20052026/codelco-the-university-of-chile-and-the-pontifical-catholic-university-of-chile-join-forces-to-create-the-institute-of-complex-mining/