テニスコートより大きな陥没穴出現　チリ・アタカマ砂漠

【サンティアゴＡＦＰ＝時事】チリ・アタカマ砂漠に位置する銅山付近に先週末、テニスコートよりも大きな陥没穴が出現した。現場では２日、地質鉱山局に派遣された専門家が調査を行った。（写真はチリ・アタカマ砂漠に出現したテニスコートよりも大きな陥没穴）
　穴は直径約３２メートル、深さ約６５メートル。周囲１００メートルの区域は立ち入り禁止とされている。
　近くでアルカパルロサ銅山を運営するカナダの採鉱企業ルンディン・マイニングは「人員、設備、インフラへの影響はない」とし、穴の状態は発見以来、安定していると説明した。予防措置として地下鉱山一帯での作業を一時中断しているという。
　人口約１万３０００人の自治体ティエラアマリージャの長は、こうした陥没穴は前例がないと語り、「崩落が採鉱活動の結果なのか、それ以外なのか、原因を明らかにしてほしい」と報道陣に述べた。
　チリは世界最大の銅生産国で、世界供給の４分の１を占めている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/08/03-13:53）

Experts in Chile on Tuesday were investigating the appearance of an enormous sinkhole, bigger than a tennis court, that has appeared near a copper mine in the Atacama desert.
Experts were dispatched to examine the hole, some 32 meters (104 feet) across and twice as deep, which appeared in an area about 800 kilometers (nearly 500 miles) north of Santiago over the weekend, the National Geology and Mining Service (Sernageomin) said in a statement.
A 100-meter security perimeter has been erected around the hole in the Tierra Amarilla municipality, near the Alcaparrosa mine operated by Canadian firm Lundin Mining.
The company said in a statement there had been no impact to personnel, equipment or infrastructure, and the sinkhole has remained stable since its detection.
As a preventive measure, development work in an area of the Alcaparrosa underground mine has been temporarily suspended, the company said.
Sernageomin director David Montenegro said experts would seek to determine the cause of the collapse and ensure that all safety measures are taken to safeguard the lives of workers and communities close to the site.
Cristian Zuniga, mayor of the Tierra Amarilla municipality of some 13,000 inhabitants, told journalists the sinkhole was unprecedented.
We ask that the cause be clarified: whether the collapse is the product of mining activity or something else, he said.
Chile is the world's largest copper producer, responsible for a quarter of global supply.