“Chief Gomez, 19.12 Mission Accomplished!” Exhausted, Ivan Silva Pozas, head of the El Teniente Mine Emergency and Rescue Brigade, turned to Javier Gomez, a specialist at the Sub 6 Mine, to report the time of the successful rescue of Jose Miguel Espinoza Albornoz.

The 44-year-old miner from the north had already spent 45 hours underground in the Pampa Camarones mine, 90 kilometers south of Arica. The rescue team arrived from the El Teniente Division, bringing relief to northern Chile.

Silva took a sip of water, sat down and watched as the rest of the multidisciplinary team, which also included Teniente brigade members Julio Romero, Guillermo Velásquez and Cristián Díaz, carried Espinoza to the surface to be transferred to a clinic in Arica.

Tenienten Pride

The following morning, on July 11, from Sewell and prior to the ceremony celebrating the Nationalization of Copper, the five rescuers (Silva, Díaz, Gómez, Velásquez and Romero) were recognized through a video conference by the general manager Andrés Music; the manager of Mines, Rodrigo Andrades; regional authorities and own workers and collaborators.

“We are proud of what you have done. Not only did you save the life of a colleague, but you also saved the life and future of a family. You were the hope of many people. You reflected the behaviors that embody our values: collaboration, discipline, trust, courage and a sense of urgency,” Andrés Music told them.

“We arrived in Arica at approximately 7 in the morning and we learned about the maneuvers they were carrying out and we asked to go to the field to evaluate the most feasible and efficient maneuvers for the rescue. We moved forward and saw a ray of hope when we managed to discover the rear part of the equipment where the worker was trapped. From that moment on, the rescue was carried out manually,” said Iván Silva.

Javier Gómez continued the story. “It was not a simple rescue and had several complexities. We coordinated with the Gope of Carabineros, who relied on our knowledge of mining. Participating in this rescue and seeing the happiness of José Miguel’s family and his companions was a very beautiful life experience.”

The security manager of El Teniente, Maximiliano González, said that “on Tuesday the 9th we were with the Chairman of the Board, Máximo Pacheco, and the CEO, Rubén Alvarado. We told them about the work of the emergency brigades in the Division and in view of the occurrence of this accident it was agreed that the management of Minas, through its manager Rodrigo Andrades, would coordinate the formation of a group of specialists to travel quickly to Arica.”

“Our brigade has more than 30 years of experience,” explained the manager of Minas, Rodrigo Andrades. “It is made up of professionals with vast experience in different rescue techniques, both in fires and inside equipment or in landslides. It is an interdisciplinary brigade that is constantly training.”

The executive explained that the brigade members receive training throughout the year and “are deployed during each shift in case of an emergency.”

Proven experience

In 2010, El Teniente brigade members were involved in the historic rescue of the 33 miners trapped in the San José mine.

That tradition, Andrades explained, has been maintained over time. “In the last three years, we have participated in about five rescues and that has allowed us to save lives in different places. We have supported miners in Chancón, rescued people here in the Division, as well as people in Coya. It is a brigade that we are proud of and we want it to always be available to the country,” he said.