Contract in Chilean desert awarded
11 July 2012A new tunnelling project at the world's largest copper mine in the Chuquicamata in the Chiliean deserts, worth about EUR 100M (USD 123M), has been awarded, it was announced yesterday.
Austrian construction company, Strabag, will build several tunnels to improve the infrastructure of the mine. The company will work with its subsidiary, Züblin Chile, and a local partner. It will be executed over a period of three years.
"In markets outside of Europe, we work on selective projects that require special technical know-how," said Dr Hans Peter Haselsteiner, CEO of Strabag. "This is especially true for tunnelling."
Both the mine and the nearest city of Calama are located in one of the driest places on Earth, in Chile's Atacama Desert, approximately 1250km north of the capital Santiago. The client is Chile-based Codelco, the largest copper-producing company in the world.
