Chile’s Codelco, the largest copper producer in the world, says it promotes collaborative work with suppliers and as part of this framework it has signed a collaboration agreement with Orica, the global leader in mining explosives and blasting technology as well as being a major supplier of mining chemicals and a global player in slope stability monitoring through its ownership of Groundprobe.

To enable its transformation, and in line with its renewed commitments to an open innovation model, Codelco says it is “convening suppliers, technology centres, universities, research centres and other multiple actors in the ecosystem to enhance capacities in the development of solutions to the challenges of our next 50 years of operations. In this context, the recent technological development agreement signed with Orica will focus on working together to identify opportunities for innovation in processes. Specifically in optimisation of safety factors at operations, productivity improvement, cost reduction and operational continuity.”

“The extensive experience of a company with a global presence like Orica will undoubtedly enhance the research and development of solutions tailored to the challenges that the largest copper producer in the world will face in the next five decades”, commented the corporate manager of Innovation of Codelco, Julio Diaz. This collaborative work will materialise through the development of technological innovation projects designed for both surface mining and underground mining.