Chile’s environmental regulator on Thursday said it had filed charges against State mining company Codelco over a 2016 tailings spill and river and estuary contamination at its Andina mine in a mountainous region near the capital Santiago.
The Environmental Superintendent (SMA) said it had received various public complaints over a tailings or mining waste spill caused by a storm in April 2016, and the alleged contamination of estuary and river water by waste discharged by the company. It said the events indicated breaches of its waste management plan.