Minera Antucoya is an Antofagasta Minerals operation located in the Antofagasta Region, Chile. It is an open-pit copper mine that produces high-purity copper cathodes through leaching, solvent extraction, and electrowinning (SX-EW) processes.

In 2025, blasting fragmentation quality negatively impacted the excavation rate: low performance due to constraint working fronts, areas with oversized boulders, increased floor work due to insufficient borehole depth, among others.

Regarding blasted material volume, losses were identified in drilling equipment utilization, mainly due to equipment relocation, floor repair requirements, and fuel supply activities.

Reduction of available blasted material inventory and deterioration in fragmentation quality, directly affecting downstream process continuity. The most direct impact is observed in the loading and hauling process, with reduced operational flexibility for ore movement and lower fleet productivity when handling poor physical quality material. Finally, crushing operations continuity is affected by the presence of oversized material.

The following measures are currently being implemented:

• Workforce increase.
• Systems to meet water supply requirements for drilling equipment.
• Standardization of shift change procedure to reduce delays.

Objective

The objective is to identify an innovative and/or technological solution to reduce delays in the drilling and blasting process ensuring optimal blasting in terms of quality and volume.

Scope

The solution must consider the typical dimensions of an open-pit mine and the logistical limitations of equipment and energy. It must also operate safely and sustainably, without generating adverse impacts on other critical variables (such as geotechnical stability, energy consumption, or secondary emissions).

Companies, startups, institutes, universities, research centers or other legally established entities, in accordance with the current legislation of their country of origin. Individual applicants are excluded from this call.

We extend the invitation to promote collaboration and complement technological and/or business capabilities among companies, ventures, or other entities. For teams and consortia, the responsible institution must be clearly identified in the application.

The proposed solution must meet a series of technical and operational requirements that ensure its viability within the current and future context of the company. These requirements are:

• Maturity Level: The solution must have a maturity level of TRL ≥ 7, implying validation in a real or near-real operational environment. Evidence of prior implementation or testing under equivalent conditions must be provided.
• Technology Validation: The solution must implement a test within a maximum period of 3 months for validation. The validation process must include clear performance indicators and measurable results.
• Payback: The solution investment must be recovered within one year at the latest.
• Operational Interference: The solution must be compatible with existing infrastructure, logistics, and processes, minimizing interference with operational continuity and avoiding complex adaptation requirements for its implementation.
• Expected Operational Impact: The solution must demonstrate a measurable impact on at least one of the following key variables: reduction of drilling and blasting delays, improvement in fragmentation quality, or increase in blasted volume. The impact must be quantifiable and compared against a baseline.
• Safety and Sustainability Conditions: The solution must operate safely, without compromising people or assets. It must not generate negative impacts on geotechnical stability, energy consumption, or emissions.