Block Caving Modelling: The Chilean Experience

Chile's Underground Copper Pivot

Chile produces a quarter of the world's copper, vital for the energy transition, yet faces a structural shift: flagship open pits are nearing exhaustion, forcing reliance on block caving to access deeper reserves.

At Chuquicamata, the world's largest former open pit, underground block caving (a macroblock variant) has been underway since 2019 to exploit over 4 billion tonnes of resources below the pit, targeting extended life and high-volume production despite challenges like simultaneous open-pit/underground ops and dilution from geological features.

El Teniente, the pioneer in large-scale copper block caving, continues refining techniques for better recovery and reduced surface footprint, but industry-wide incidents underscore risks: seismic events, mud inflows, and operational halts can slash output for years.

These are not isolated; block caving now drives a growing share of global copper supply, yet escalating scale brings $10 billion-plus projects vulnerable to modelling inaccuracies in flow, fragmentation, and stability.

Non-obvious tensions include geomechanical surprises in heterogeneous orebodies—leading to overhangs or uneven cave propagation—and competing priorities: efficiency gains versus heightened underground hazards, lower surface impact versus community and regulatory scrutiny over water use and dust in arid regions.

With 2026 forecasts showing constrained supply growth and persistent threats from permitting, costs, and instability, refining Chilean-style modelling integrates field data to de-risk designs and protect output in a market with scant buffer.