The Social Role of Our Workers

 

The Earthquake on February 27th

 

Around 3:30 a.m. on Saturday, February 27th, a strong earthquake of 8.8 degrees on the Richter scale shook a large part of Chile. According to information from the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Chile’s National Seismological System, the epicenter was located in the ocean, near the towns Curanipe and Cobquecura, 150 kilometers northeast of Concepcion and 47.4 kilometers deep. As a consequence of the earthquake, a tsunami devastated a large part of the coastal area, reaching even the Juan Fernández archipelago.

 

Both events impacted the central and southern regions, where the largest cities in the country are located. From the Valaparíso region to the La Araucanía region, a great part of cities such as Talca, Constitución, Concepción, and the port of Talcahuano were damaged, as well as rural and semirural localities where old adobe constructions (a mixture of mud and straw) dating form colonial times were common. According to official figures presented by the Chilean Government, the number of casualties was 521 people and nearly 370 thousand homes were severely damaged. A total of 800 thousand victims were registered, making this the worst natural tragedy suffered by Chile since 1960, and one of the five biggest earthquakes ever registered in the world.

 

The Soundness of Codelco Installations

 

The Andina, El Teniente, and Ventanas divisions, as well as Corporate Headquarters, are located in the central area, where the earthquake reached a similar intensity as in the south. Due to this, the quake impacted Codelco installations and some operations were affected, having to stop production for a few hours. Because of the construction standards and compliance with seismic regulations applicable to facilities such as tailings dams, underground mines, open pit mine wall supports and dump sites, among others, damages were minimal. The Salvador Division, although it didn´t suffer any damage, had also to halt operations for a few hours, due to a power outage registered in the area.

 

Of particular relevance was the geotechnical stability works carried out by the El Teniente Division on its old dams, such as Barahona and Cauquenes. These were concluded months before the earthquake and contributed to the reduced damages.

 

A production impact no greater than 0.5% was estimated after work stoppage, which was recovered during the year.

 

In the Andina Division, a rolling rock provoked the rupture of a tailings chute leading to spillage of material, which was quickly controlled. The El Teniente Division suffered slight damages in areas such as the concentrator and smelter, which were back in operation on the next day. At Ventanas, operations of all circuits were resumed on the following day, albeit without reaching normal load conditions due to the power restrictions caused by the earthquake. The Corporate Headquarters building suffered minor damage, and repairs were focused on cleaning out rubble, renewing furniture, removing hazardous materials and carrying out the necessary inspections to verify it was safe to resume working.

 

The Company Aids Victims of the Earthquake

 

Codelco’s divisions, sensitive to the situation that affected the country, gave official help in a number of ways.

• Rescuers, doctors from the Hospital del Cobre, and other Codelco Norte professionals travelled to Talca to work directly on helping to solve emergencies arising as a consequence of the earthquake. Furthermore, four tons of medical supplies and non-perishable food were delivered.

 

 

•  The El Teniente Division contributed with a professional team that was at the authorities’ command, comprised by civil and structural engineers, electricians and soil specialists to analyze the damage in buildings, and carry out risk assessments of community infrastructure, hospitals, polyclinics, and private homes. Furthermore, the division provided 26 units of heavy machinery for removing rubble and four tank trucks for distributing drinking water. The help was specifically concentrated in the Rancagua, Machalí, Doñihue, El Olivar, Graneros, and Alhue areas, and was coordinated with the majors of said areas.
• The Ventanas division emergency unit aided the community by transporting 10 thousand liters of water in tank trucks, reaching different rural areas that had spent more than 48 hours without electricity or water, mainly around Puchuncaví and Quintero.
  Furthermore, representatives of the Ventanas division Sports and Recreational Center participated in the construction of a 40 square meter structure, completely lined and with s state of the art lighting system, which was used as a shelter while the cases of the affected families were not yet fully resolved.
• The Corporate Headquarters Office of Assistant Management, together with the unions, collected nonperishable food supplies, blankets, and personal hygiene articles. This activity had the support of students who were on summer internships.
• The El Salvador division, in a joint effort with the entire Salvadorean community, coordinated with the local authorities of the Pumanque locality,the delivery of 110 family food baskets including articles for personal hygiene, help which also included the construction of 10 emergency homes financed with contributions of the community. Also a work plan with local authorities was developed and executed including radio stations, police, firefighters, educational establishments, unions, contractor companies, university students and the community parish, for the collection and shipment of a great amount of help to the south.
• The Andina division donated 7 million pesos for the reparation of the Mi Huertito Travieso daycare center, which belongs to Fundación Integra in the town of Tiltil. This quick reaction in repairing the daycare center allowed 56 boys and girls to resume their educational activities.

 

 

The Solidarity of Codelco Workers: Voluntary Contributions

 

Even though Codelco organized a series of initiatives to help with the reconstruction tasks, much of the help received by the victims of the earthquake and tsunami came from workers, who as independent Chilean citizens, joined the voluntary network deployed throughout the affected territory.

• Answering the call of the Codelco union leaders, workers from the Salvador, Ventanas, Andinas and El Teniente divisions donated a day’s salary to the Chile Ayuda a Chile campaign.
• Rodolfo Reygada, a strategic management engineer in the Ventanas division, travelled to Pumanque leading a group of 160 volunteers who carried out rubble removal tasks and repairs to roofing which had been damaged. He also participated in performing a survey of the habitability of the area and in detecting the affected families’ greatest needs.
• The Codelco Ladies Association carried out a campaign where parkas and winter coats were collected from Division workers to mitigate the effects of winter that affected our countrymen in the southern areas of Chile. 2,500 parkas were delivered to Hualañé, Duao, Iloca, Curepto, and Licantén, in the Maule region.
• The Ventanas Unions and women’s groups organized collection campaigns and coordinated help brigades with the participation of volunteer workers, technicians, and professionals, who aided the reconstruction labor.
• The Salvador Union took part in the activities that the community as a whole organized to send a threetruck caravan loaded with clothing, nonperishable food, and water collected from the Copiapó, La Serena, El Melón, Los Andes, Santiago, and Rancagua communities to the victims in Talcahuano and Lota. Furthermore, a soccer game was organized which united a number of public figures, and the money collected from ticket sales was added to this contribution.
• Several contractor employees also participated, such as Jaime Briceño (General Manager of Britec and head of the solar collectors manufacturing project for Codelco in the Colina jail), who formed part of the Auto-ayuda al Sur association and travelled to the Licantén and Duao areas, as well as other coastal towns in the Maule Region. There, he and the rest of the group delivered 4 tons of supplies and blankets. For the people who had been isolated and without access to water for days, this help was essential, as they took the opportunity to pump water from wells and charge their mobile phones using the power generators they brought with them.

 

We cannot help but remark innumerable other private and spontaneous actions that were carried out anonymously and just as selflessly by our workers. Their initiative deserves all Codelco’s pride.

 

 

 

Operation San Lorenzo: The unprecedented rescue led by Codelco

 

 

 

On August 5th, 2010, at 1:30 p.m., the San José Mine which is located in the northern area of the country, 45 kilometers north of the city of Copiapó, suffered a collapse of such magnitude that 33 miners were trapped inside of it. A rocky blockade definitively closed the exit, leaving the workers plunged in darkness and dust. Without exact knowledge on where they were and what conditions they would be found in, an unprecedented rescue process was immediately begun, led by the government and in which Codelco contributed through technical equipment and professionals of excellence, proving the quality of the work carried out by Chilean mining companes. It was the so called Operation San Lorenzo.

 

Phase I

 

Where are they and how are they?

Immediately after the event, without updated reference plans and in the midst of high expectations, the search for the trapped miners began. Teams of specialists in underground mines, in fortification, in mining rescue and mountain rescue, as well as cuttingedge technological equipment began arriving to the San José mine to plan the search.

 

From Codelco, the first to arrive were the teams from the Salvador Division, who were subsequently joined by El Teniente and Andina professionals. André Sougarret, Mining Manager for the El Teniente Division, was the man designated by the Government to lead the process.

 

The two initial options were to carry out probes from the hill to locate the shelter where the workers were supposedly waiting, or attempt the rescue through the ventilation shaft. The second alternative was discarded shortly, after proving that a rocky mega-block weighing at least 700 thousand tons, which furthermore was unstable, blocked the only possible entry through that access. The probes became the only hope.

 

While family members waited in an improvised camp called Esperanza (Hope) (which would soon become official), several probes were at work trying to locate the miners. Tension was building up among family members, rescuers, owners of the mine, and the Government.

 

Finally, on August 22, a magical moment would be forever engraved in the memory of the Chilean people, when probe 10B penetrated the shelter and returned to the surface with the unforgettable slip of paper written in red ink: “We are OK in the shelter, all 33″. Experienced as a miracle, the hardest part from an emotional standpoint was over: finding the 33 miners alive.

 

Phase 2

 

The long wait

From the moment that the probe made contact with the miners and the moment the rescue began, 51 days elapsed. During that time, the tasks necessary to create a mechanism by which the rescue could be carried out were developed: three perforations, of which one would be chosen as a shaft for transporting the miners to the surface (the same which was used to establish contact). It was called Plan B; paradoxically, the least indicated due to its greater inclination angle and greater curvatures. The journey would be made in a capsule, which was finally baptized Phoenix 2.

 

While preparations were being made, permanent contact was maintained with the 33 miners, who in a systematic and programmed manner were sent food, water, clothing, and other objects necessary for their survival using “pidgeons” 1 capsules. In this manner, they sent messages to their families. The health teams in charge of receiving the trapped workers prepared the protocols, supplies, and infrastructure necessary to transport them to a field hospital as soon as they were out of the capsule, and then to the Hospital at Copiapó.

 

The rescue teams consisted of Codelco experts and experts from private mining companies, as well as submariners from the Chilean navy. Before the rescue was begun, almost two months after the miners had been found, the teams carried out the tests necessary to measure Phoenix 2′s transit time. Once the drilling machine was disassembled and the hoisting platform was installed, everything was ready for the rescue to begin. Close to midnight on October 12th, the first miner began his ascent, thus giving start to a working day that would last almost 23 hours.

 

Phase 3

 

The Ascent

At 00:10 on October 13th, Florencio Ávalos reached the surface. Waiting for him, and for each of the miners, was the President of Chile and other government authorities, their closest family members, and the entire rescue team that worked without rest to free each one of the 33.

 

For almost 23 hours, one by one the men trapped for 69 days emerged from the depths of the mine. In a faultless maneuver where at no time was there any risk for those working on the rescue or for the people being rescued, 33 lives were saved though national and international help.

 

The magnitude of the event was such that it was televised without interruption on Chilean television and transmitted live on diverse international media. At the end of the day, at 21:55 local time on the 13th of October, shift manager Luis Urzúa turned the shift over to the President, requesting that events such as this never occur again.

 

Codelco in the Rescue

 

The higher organization in charge of the rescue

 

“This was an impeccable operation, recognized throughout the world as they watched the final rescue. We were there with the objective of getting the 33 miners out and returning them, safe and sound, to their homes. We had no accidents, which proves that things can be done well and safely, no matter how impossible the task might seem”.

 

André Sougarret, Manager at the El Teniente Division and Chief of Operations in the San José mine rescue operation.

 

 

His appointment as second-in-command for the rescue team was due to his experience in safety and his professional education as a psychologist. From his arrival at the scene of the tragedy, he had to coordinate the experts working on rescue labors and the miner’s family members. In moments of maximum tension, he had to deal with conflicts between experts, whom he had never met before and who had dissimilar diagnostics regarding what should be done.

 

 

“This was not only a highly demanding task, but also one of the most delicate we have ever had to live through, because all the knowledge and resources applied were directed at rescuing 33 human lives, which implied a very intense analysis of each and every one of the existing possibilities.”

 

 

“When visiting the site I found people I had worked with before in El Salvador and El Teniente, among others. There, I was able to verify the unity which existed between professionals of different areas and the special mystique they transmitted. It was an unprecedented challenge, which I don’t believe will ever be repeated.”

 

 

 

 

The Rescue Brigade

On the day of the ascent, 14 rescuers – 10 of them Codelco employees, two paramedics from the Chilean Navy, and two volunteers from the Atacama Region – were in charge of operations. The head of the volunteers was Ovidio Rodriguez, head of the El Teniente Health and Safety Department.
6 rescuers descended into the mine; two of them work in the underground mine at the El Teniente division. The first volunteer in descending and the last in coming up was Manuel Gonzalez. The other rescuer was Jorge Bustamante, who works in Esmeralda Level Sub 5..

 

 

He is 46 years old, married, father of two children. He has been with Codelco for 20 years, 12 of which he has worked as a rescue volunteer, specialized in mining fortification and vertical advance. He was the first to descend into the mine and the last to come out, leaving the image of an unforgettable ending.

 

 

“We now have a new source of pride for belonging to Codelco and, above all, that the company trusted in us”.

 

Once in the mine, his mission was to prepare the people to board the capsule. Because the miners were apprehensive, he was always careful to calm them and encourage them, supporting them as they went up the shaft.

 

“The first thing you think (when inside the mine) is of your family, and the families of all the miners. Being able to bring back these people’s happiness is priceless.”

 

Communications

 

Ever since, 17 days after the accident, it became known that the 33 miners were still alive, keeping contact with them was decisive to facing the long waiting until they could be rescued.

 

On the day following the tragedy,, experts of the Information Technology and Communications Management (TICA), lead by Jaime Eade head of that department at the Salvador Division, had already joined the work being carried out in the San Jose mine. They began by setting up an office in a container with a radio station, satellite telephones, internet, mobile phones, computers, printers, plotters, and software. And a direct link from the Salvador division to the San Jose Hill so they could integrate the corporate network, with access to emails and the Codelco Website.

 

At the beginning of Codelco operations,, the objective was to apply solutions which would allow detecting any sign of what was going on inside the mine. When it became known that the miners were alive, the immediate task was to connect the shelter to the exterior.

 

The first images were captured by a camera with geo-mechanical use,which was provided by the Codelco Norte division. Then, Micomo (a Codelco subsidiary) designed, implemented and incorporated a video conference solution by means of fiber optics to integrate audio and images. The camera would be “capsuled” down when it was required, and on September 11th, by means of a polyduct measuring 10 cm in diameter and was designed by the professionals in the El Teniente Division, it became possible to simultaneously deliver to the shelter 700 meters underground enriched air, water, electricity, fiber optics, and two telephone pairs, as well as a video camera with audio permanently installed. So the miners could adequately connect the equipment sent down in the capsules, an additional camera with instructions and a microprojector were sent down.

 

In the end, there were three communications systems functioning in San José: one which operated permanently and two backups. Also, a satellite telephone and TV system were added, which transmitted to the projector in the refuge by means of the Micomo videoconference system.

 

From September onwards the 33 trapped miners could watch prerecorded television programs, movies, and live soccer, and Ariel Ticona was able to watch the birth of his daughter Esperanza (Hope), by means of a video conference operated in permanent 16 hours/day shifts by Micomo professionals.

 

In the last weeks, an ultra-flexible fiber was installed, which was fundamental to facilitating the manipulation of the equipment inside the mine, thus improving the system’s stability.

 

 

Always connected. The day of the ascent

Constant and effective communication had to be maintained between the 33 trapped miners and the rescue team that constantly worked from the surface. To do this, the same system installed by Micomo for the video conferences was used, in parallel with an internal phone system which allowed bringing sounds and images from the depths of the mine to the surface. This way, operators, technicians, and 1.2 billion people were able to watch – live – the arrival and lifting of the Phoenix 2 capsule.

 

At around 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, October 13th, on the very day of the rescue and when a large part of the miners had already been reunited with their families, the fiber optics cable was cut due to a rockslide. “We were left without video images, which made timing the rescue more difficult, as the video image was used by the hoist operator to calculate exactly how to position the capsule”, says Larry Grenett, El Teniente technician who is a Telecommunications specialist. To reach a fast and effective solution to the problem, he tells how they had to develop an alternative plan, making use of other equipment that had been previously sent into the mine to receive video images at the moment of the final breakage. To recover contact, “we coordinated with the trapped miners Ariel Ticona and Pedro Cortés, who aided us with communications inside the mine, and it was them who changed the equipment position and set up. Thanks to this, we were able once more to have video images from inside the mine, by means of a telephone line”, indicated Grenett.

 

This labor is remembered as an example of teamwork between rescuers and rescuees, accomplished with cleverness and dedication. Larry Grenett sent his most sincere thanks to “the whole work team that we formed both outside and inside the San José mine, without which it would have been impossible to obtain these results.”

 

Phoenix 2: made in El Teniente

“I knew I could help getting the men out”, Alejandro Poblete, designer of the Phoenix 2 capsule.

 

Manuel Montecino was the one responsible of finding the person who could design the system: mechanical engineer Alejandro Poblete, former El Teniente employee for 32 years.

 

After making several sketches and designing a model with a toilet paper tube and wooden skewers, he arrived at the Phoenix 2′s final design. When he made his outline public, Alejandro Poblete was immediately designated as the sole person responsible for the cage design, being in charge of the conceptual and basic engineering of the project which would be built in Asmar (Navy’s Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Company).

 

Alejandro Poblete comments the key aspects of his invention: “the wheels that kept the cage from banging around and the mineral bed we placed under it, in the place where the cage sat. This way it never left the duct entirely, so we didn´t have any problems putting it back in”. During the rescue, the engineer awaited the exit of each miner, checking the condition of the capsule.

 

The capsule was painted in white, blue, and red, the national colors. It measured approximately 4.5 meters in height and weighed 250 kilos. It was hoisted by a 24 mm wide cable, which was intertwined to prevent the capsule from turning. It had a harness to hold each passenger in and a microphone and speakers for communicating with the exterior.

 

 

 

 

Help given by “Codelquians”:

 

The collapse hit all Chile, no doubt about it. But those who have been marked the most by it were those who daily work underground, or at the very least, those who work hand in hand with this industry.

 

Few days after the collapse took place, when the conditions of the miners were still unknown, the Andina Division Joint Union and the Labor Integration Union carried out a food collection campaign for the miner’s families, while they waited in what would later be known as Esperanza (Hope) Camp. Besides food supplies, the help was directed towards collecting blankets, as they were aware of the low temperatures that would strike those who waited almost at the mercy of the elements. Once the collection was realized, they travelled north to deliver the goods to the family members. Parallel to the material aid, the Joint Union promoted the workers’ participation in Masses and prayer for the 33 miners be rescued alive.

 

The Chuquicamata workers gave 300 thousand pesos to each of the miners’ families, with the hope of somewhat relieving their pain. “We bring a bonus for each family; we know it’s a small but significant contribution for these brothers, who also have all our love and support. What has happened here is a tragedy that has moved the heart of every Chilean and that reminds all of us that it is the miners who are the sustenance of this country,” said Cecilia Gonzalez, president of the Codelco Norte Union.

 

 

When the news that the miners were alive became known, the Radomiro Tomic E1 Guard from the North Extraction and Leaching Management managed to collect 3 tons of nonperishable food supplies in seven days, on a drag cart they built themselves. “This aid comes from our hearts, it bears the tears, weariness, and effort of an entire team, and with our happiness that our mates are alive”, said Jaime Alicera, an operator in the Radomiro Tomic mine and leader of this initiative while the 33 miners still awaited rescue.

 

A humble message from a miner like you (thoughts written by Carlos Olivares; operator of the Radomiro Tomic mine. Two days after the collapse).

 

 

In the inner depths of this blessed earth, hold tight to life, don´t lose hope, my heart is with you. Your courage is of steel; you are stronger than me.

Don´t lose hope, stand firm, and breathe. Save your energy, we’re coming for you soon, there are thousands of us praying and watching over your children, over your wife who awaits you.

Stand firm and breathe in the depths of the earth, in the darkness where your memories are the light.

Follow the wind, don´t give up, just keep yourself alive, as we are watching over your loved ones.