A tragic accident occurred on Tuesday at the facilities of the Antamina Mining Company, located in the Yanacancha campin Huari, region of Áncash. The incident left the death of a senior executive of the company and another seriously injured official. The incident occurred when a huge dump of great tonnage crushed the two workers while doing their work in the place.
The fatal accident occurred around 2:25 in the afternoon, when a volquete Komatsu 980of 400 tons of load, crushed two workers who were aboard a van in the Yanacancha camp operations. Tragedy caused the immediate death of Edwin Colque Calisayasenior manager of Operations of Antamina, who was in charge of the mining works in the area. For its part, the drilling and blasting superintendent, Yorhininio León Robles, was injured and was immediately transferred to a medical center to receive attention.
The official statement of the mining company confirmed the death of Colque Calisaya, who was a key member of the company, and expressed his deep regret for the accident. “This is a difficult time for whom we are part of the Minera Company Antamina,” the company said in its pronouncement. In addition, they reported that the families of those involved had already been contacted to provide them with the necessary support in this difficult time.
León Robles, who was immediately rescued after the accident, suffered wounds, although his condition was not reported as serious in the first reports. The company has highlighted the importance of coordinating with local authorities to carry out the relevant investigations.
-As a consequence of this tragic event, Antamina decided to immediately suspend all her Operations in the minein what is called a “total security stop.” This measure seeks to guarantee Safety of other workers of the company while the facts are analyzed and the causes of the accident are determined.
In the statement issued, the company also indicated that the priority was to clarify what happened and take the necessary measures to prevent incidents of this type being repeated in the future. The company also stressed that an internal investigation has been initiated to clarify the circumstances that led to the accident and promised to collaborate with the competent authorities to contribute in clarifying the facts.
According to the bulletin presented by the Mining Supervision Management (GSM) It includes an exhaustive analysis of mortal accidents that occurred in median and large mining from 2007 to December 2024. During this period, data from various mining operations supervised by Osinergminin accordance with current laws and regulations in Peru. In 2024, 14 fatal accidents were recorded, resulting in 15 fatalitieswhich highlights a constant concern about safety conditions in the sector. This historical provides a complete panorama about the incidents that occurred in mining operations, allowing to identify trends and areas that require greater efforts to improve job security.
Of the 15 registered fatalities, the majority (10) occurred in the mining units of the median mining, while 5 belonged to the Great mining. The bulletin details the statistics of fatalities According to several categories, such as the specialty of supervision, place of the accident, type of accident and type of company. In terms of supervision specialty, it was observed that the geomechanics was the one that registered the most fatal victims, with 7 accidents that caused 8 deaths. Other sectors such as transport, machinery and auxiliary facilities, and benefit plants were also responsible for several fatal accidents, underlines the importance of improving supervision and safety at all levels of mining.
