Codelco and Normet start a five-year autonomy programme at El Teniente
Three pilots will test autonomous concrete spraying, remote scaling and autonomous rock breaking under production conditions at Codelco's El Teniente mine in Chile.
Normet and Codelco have agreed a five-year technology development programme for autonomous and remotely operated underground mining, built around three pilots at Codelco's El Teniente mine in Chile. The first is an autonomous system for transporting and spraying concrete that combines advanced perception, environment mapping, onboard artificial intelligence, connectivity and data-driven decision making, so the machine can work with progressively less human control.
The second pilot develops remotely operated scaling using advanced mapping and extended reality. The third targets autonomous stationary breakers that keep rock flowing without interruption in demanding production areas. Development will take place at Normet's recently opened technology centre in Pirkkala, a base for its autonomy, robotics and software work, before each system is trialled in production at El Teniente. Normet cites deeper workings, seismic activity, rising temperatures and difficult ground as the pressures behind the effort to move people out of these areas.
Source: International Mining, by Daniel Gleeson, 16 October 2026