Chile’s power outage caused by a transmission line failure has largely been resolved, with major copper mines resuming operations. As of Wednesday, over 90% of residents have had power restored, although some areas continue to experience issues. Investigations into the outage are ongoing, and safety measures will be reviewed to prevent future occurrences.
Chile’s power grid and major copper mines began returning to operation on Wednesday morning following a significant outage that affected the country’s electricity supply. This incident, caused by a transmission line failure in northern Chile, occurred on Tuesday afternoon and left much of the nation in darkness, disrupting power to vital mining operations and impacting global metal prices.
According to Chile’s National Electricity Coordinator (CEN), as of Wednesday morning, more than 90% of residential power consumption had been restored, though some cities still experienced intermittent electricity. Interior Minister Carolina Toha expressed concern about the incident and its effects, noting failures of various safety measures during the outage.
The outage has been linked to energy distributor ISA Interchile, a subsidiary of Colombia’s ISA. The company reported ongoing investigations to determine the outage’s cause, which they attribute to a malfunction in electronic and software protection systems that led to the shutdown of a high-voltage line.
As reported by Minister Toha, the state of emergency and curfew imposed on Tuesday evening have been lifted. At the peak of the outage, approximately 8 million homes were affected, but as of now, around 220,000 users remain without power, primarily in northern regions.
In terms of mining operations, major copper mines such as Escondida, controlled by BHP, began resuming normal activities. Other mines, including Los Bronces and El Soldado operated by Anglo American, also reported a restart of operations, while Chile’s state-owned copper company Codelco announced a gradual return to functionality across all divisions. The full impact on production plans is currently under evaluation.
Santiago’s subway services announced they would resume operations on most lines, indicating a return to normalcy in public transportation. This recovery highlights the resilience of the infrastructure following the widespread power outage and its implications for the mining sector.
In summary, Chile successfully restored much of its power grid after a significant outage caused by a transmission line failure. Major copper mines are gradually coming back online, underscoring the urgency of restoring normal operations in this critical sector. Moving forward, investigations into the outage’s causes will be crucial for improving system reliability and preventing future incidents.
Original Source: www.mining.com
