In a day that combined reflection, recognition and celebration, workers, supervisors and executives met in Colón Bajo to celebrate the 118th anniversary of the El Teniente Concentration Plant.

June 6, 1905 went down in history as the day that a “mineral processing plant” began operations on the mountainside near the Mine in Sewell, consisting of a concentration plant or mill with the capacity to process 250 tons of mineral per day, which were transported from the mine by an “aerial tram” (the baskets).

In 1967, Sociedad Minera El Teniente SA, began a plan to increase its installed production capacity from 180,000 to 280,000 tons of fine copper per year, which included the construction of a new concentrator in Colón Bajo. Heirs to that history, the current millers participated in the activity that began with a homily by priest Cristian Giadach and ended with the presentation of the folkloric group Brotes de Cachapoal.

The general manager of Codelco El Teniente Division, Andrés Music, congratulated and recognized the workers and invited them to commit and get involved with the strategic objective of the Division, which aims to generate triple value in the production processes, which implies being leaders in the economic, social and environmental spheres.

Juan Huidobro, Plant Operations Manager, highlighted “the pride that everyone should feel for belonging to this team. Therefore, I invite everyone to celebrate this milestone, because there are few operations that can say that they have turned 118 years old,” he said.

“Several generations converge here and there is one characteristic that always remains the same: evolution, development and innovation. In the past, many safety and habitability conditions were very different and the challenge is to continue on that path so that our processes are safer and more efficient and we continue to contribute to the country,” added Erwin Schmidt, Plant Maintenance Manager.

At the ceremony, Soledad Ortega, Seth Campos, William Castro and Cristián Lizana, from the company Caínsa, were also recognized for their career and contribution to the teamwork of Codelco workers.