Sewell, the historic camp of the El Teniente copper mine, under snow in Chile’s O’Higgins region. File photo, 2008. (Photo: Marcelo Páez Bermúdez, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

CHILE · MINING

A Chile mine avalanche that killed two contract workers is now under investigation as possible negligent homicide, regional prosecutors confirmed on Wednesday. The men died on Sunday, 11 October, at El Teniente, a copper mine south of Santiago run by Codelco, Chile’s state-owned copper giant.

The case matters far beyond Chile, because Chile supplied 68% of the refined copper the United States imported from 2021 to 2024. Investigators now want to know whether anyone should have kept the men away from a road while a storm was raging.

What Prosecutors Are Investigating

The O’Higgins Regional Prosecutor’s Office is investigating a cuasidelito de homicidio, Chilean law’s term for a death caused by negligence rather than intent, Cooperativa reported. The two subcontracted workers died in the Chile mine avalanche while clearing a road in the Cráter Norte sector.

Claudio Meneses, the chief prosecutor in Rancagua, the regional capital, said the task is to find out whether any supervisor bears responsibility. “The death was caused by an avalanche, and we all know a storm was under way at the time,” he said, according to Cooperativa.

Meneses said investigators must establish why the men were working in that place at all. He added that at least four companies hold contracts for different tasks linked to what happened.

The two men were Guillermo Guajardo, 53, and Diego Ponce, 34, Cooperativa reported. They worked for San Lorenzo, a firm that provides services to Aura, a contractor working for Codelco at El Teniente.

Autopsy Changes the Picture

An autopsy by the Servicio Médico Legal, Chile’s state forensic service, found that both victims of the Chile mine avalanche died of asphyxia by immersion. That means they suffocated under the snow and mud rather than being crushed, as the first checks at the site had suggested.

Subprefect Juan Reyes, head of the homicide brigade of the Investigations Police (PDI) in Rancagua, gave the result on Wednesday, La Tercera and Cooperativa reported. The PDI is Chile’s national detective police force, separate from the uniformed Carabineros.

Reyes said no external injuries were found that would point to direct responsibility of a third party, La Tercera reported. Prosecutors are instead examining whether any supervisor was negligent in letting the men work there during the storm.

Police Form a Special Team

The PDI set up a multidisciplinary team on Wednesday after a meeting at the regional prosecutor’s office, both outlets reported. It joins homicide detectives with Bidema, the PDI unit that investigates crimes against health and the environment.

The team must establish whether the Chile mine avalanche happened because of a third party or from natural causes, Reyes told La Tercera. He said detectives will interview co-workers, witnesses, people on shift that day and representatives of each company.

“All the information is being gathered, documents are being seized, and interviews with the relevant people are being planned,” Reyes said, according to La Tercera. He declined to say which line of inquiry investigators favour.

Plaza de Los Héroes in Rancagua, the regional capital where prosecutors and detectives lead the inquiry. File photo, 2012. (Photo: Vessna, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Government Calls Urgent Mine Safety Meeting

The El Teniente deaths came amid a run of fatal mining accidents, with 13 workers killed so far in 2026, BioBioChile and 24horas reported. On Wednesday, Daniel Mas, economy and mining minister in President José Antonio Kast’s conservative government, called an urgent mine safety meeting for Friday, 16 October.

Mas wrote on X that workers, companies, industry groups, lawmakers and Sernageomin, the national mining regulator, will take part. “We cannot normalise a worker leaving home and not coming back to his family,” he said, urging an in-depth look at what has failed.

Why a Chilean Mine Matters to US Buyers

The Chile mine avalanche struck the world’s biggest copper miner, which produced about 5.3 million tonnes in 2025, the US Geological Survey (USGS) estimates. The world total was about 23 million tonnes, so Chile alone mined close to a quarter.

The United States leans heavily on that supply, with Chile providing 68% of its refined copper imports from 2021 to 2024, according to the USGS. In the United States, copper goes mostly into buildings, electrical and electronic products, and transport equipment.

El Teniente is one of Codelco’s main divisions, and our explainer on Codelco sets out the company’s debt and its recent troubles at the mine. The deaths themselves and the start of the police inquiry were reported in Chile’s El Teniente Avalanche Kills 2 Mine Workers.

What It Means for You

For copper buyers and holders of Codelco’s debt, the key question is whether the case leads to stricter safety rules at El Teniente and beyond. Friday’s government meeting is the first place where such measures could take shape.

For anyone following Chile’s mining safety record, the autopsy result shifts attention from bad luck to decisions made before the shift. Codelco said operations in the open-pit area where the men died were already halted because of bad weather when the avalanche struck.

What Is Not Known

It is not known whether any company, manager or supervisor will be charged, or when prosecutors expect to finish the inquiry. It is also not known whether the Chile mine avalanche had any effect on El Teniente’s copper output.

Who decided that the road-clearing work should go ahead during the storm has not been made public. It is also open whether Friday’s meeting will produce new rules for mining work in bad weather.

More: Chile news in English, every day from The Rio Times.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is negligent homicide in Chile?

Chilean law calls it a cuasidelito de homicidio, which means causing a death through carelessness rather than intent. Prosecutors in O’Higgins are using it to check whether anyone failed to protect the El Teniente workers.

How did the El Teniente workers die?

An avalanche of snow and mud hit them on Sunday, 11 October, while they cleared a road at the mine. An autopsy found they died of asphyxia by immersion, not of crushing injuries.

Who runs the El Teniente mine?

El Teniente is run by Codelco, Chile’s state-owned copper company. The two dead workers were employed by a subcontractor working for Aura, one of Codelco’s contractors.

Does the Chile mine avalanche affect US copper supply?

Codelco said operations in the open-pit area where the men died were already halted because of bad weather when the avalanche struck. Chile supplied 68% of US refined copper imports from 2021 to 2024, so US buyers watch safety at its mines closely.

Sources: Cooperativa, 14 October 2026; La Tercera, 14 October 2026; Codelco, statement on the deaths of two subcontracted workers at El Teniente, 11 October 2026; BioBioChile, government calls urgent mine safety meeting, 14 October 2026; BioBioChile, 13 mining deaths in 2026, 14 October 2026; 24horas, 15 October 2026; US Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Copper, January 2026.

Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief · Editorial standards · Report an error