Codelco’s Andesita project at the El Teniente copper mine in Rancagua, Chile involves $513 million of total investment with production operations from October 2023. It will see 1,300 jobs during construction and consists of 25 km of tunnels, with 85 extraction points. It will use autonomous LHD equipment operated from the Rancagua Integrated Operations Centre. Along with the Diamante and Andes Norte projects have the broad strategy of the gradual deepening of the operation to 300 m below current levels with a total investment of $3.2 billion. The new projects have reserves of approximately 2 billion tons of ore, with an average copper grade of 0.86% and 220 parts per million of molybdenum.

In April 2021, a Master Drilling RD6 raise borer was brought into the mine to create two ventilation shafts – the first being 100 m in length by 5.1 m in diameter and the second shaft 175 m in length by 5.1 m in diameter. The RD6 raise borer is a powerful low profile machine that is capable of successfully completing holes from 3 m diameter to 6 m diameters, up to 1,100m deep in hard rock. The low profile allows the machine to fit into smaller “envelopes” underground easily and the client doesn’t have to excavate a large underground cubby for the machine to fit into.