MacLean Engineering has agreed a five-year technology programme with Chilean copper producer Codelco to test and implement underground mining solutions at El Teniente, forming the most tangible industrial element of a wider Canada–Chile critical-minerals partnership.
The collaboration will concentrate on three areas: trench scaling, tunnel development, and deployment of service infrastructure. Equipment and working methods developed through the programme will be adapted to the safety and operational requirements of El Teniente, one of the world’s largest underground copper mines.
That provides a demanding environment in which to move mining technology beyond demonstration. Underground equipment has to operate in confined headings, around uneven surfaces, dust, water, vibration, restricted visibility, and continual changes to the mine layout, while remaining serviceable enough not to disrupt production every time something requires attention.
Scaling is a particularly safety-critical operation because loose rock has to be removed from newly excavated surfaces before personnel and other equipment can work beneath them. Machine stability, boom reach, visibility, remote-control capability, operator protection, and accurate positioning all influence how effectively that work can be carried out.
Tunnel development presents a broader sequence of industrial tasks involving excavation, ground support, materials handling, explosives, ventilation, utilities, and access. As workings extend, the mine also has to install and relocate service infrastructure for power, water, communications, ventilation, and other systems that allow production equipment to operate further underground.
MacLean describes itself as Canada’s largest domestic manufacturer of underground mining equipment and has a product range covering scaling, bolting, explosives charging, concrete and shotcrete transport, secondary reduction, and mine-service vehicles. Its more recent development work also extends into battery-electric machines, telematics, automation, and remote operation.
The Codelco agreement therefore provides an opportunity to apply that manufacturing and engineering base to a large operating mine rather than a controlled trial environment. A machine that performs effectively during a demonstration still has to prove that it can work over repeated shifts, be maintained by site technicians, obtain spare parts, integrate with operating procedures, and withstand the cumulative punishment imposed by production.
The programme was announced as Canada and Chile broadened cooperation on critical minerals and mining technology. Natural Resources Canada says the relationship is intended to connect Canadian equipment and technology suppliers with Chilean mining operations while improving productivity, safety, and sustainability.
A second initiative brings digital infrastructure into that picture. Canada’s National Research Council Industrial Research Assistance Program will provide up to C$450,000 to Ottawa-based Cheetah Networks through the first Canada–Chile Eureka project.
Cheetah specialises in network analytics and Industrial Internet of Things connectivity. Working with Chilean partners and development agency CORFO, the project will develop communications technology intended to improve connectivity, productivity, energy efficiency, and safety in mines and other critical infrastructure.
Industrial connectivity underground is considerably more difficult than installing another wireless network in a factory. Rock, bends, distance, machinery, and continued excavation all alter radio propagation, while network equipment itself has to operate in harsh environmental conditions and move as the working face advances.
At the same time, dependence on communications is increasing. Machine telemetry, environmental monitoring, workforce tracking, video, automation, remote diagnostics, maintenance data, and production systems all require reliable information flows, making the communications network part of the operational infrastructure rather than a convenience for office systems.
Reliability matters particularly where connectivity is supporting safety or remotely operated equipment. A temporary interruption to administrative data can be tolerated; intermittent communications to a machine operating beyond direct line of sight create a substantially different engineering problem.
The wider Canada–Chile package also includes skills development and a Canadian cleantech mission scheduled for October. Twelve Canadian companies are expected to participate, targeting mining challenges including water management, decarbonisation, energy efficiency, and environmental performance.
Those issues are increasingly connected with equipment selection and process design. Mines are becoming deeper and more technically demanding, while declining ore grades can require more rock to be moved and processed for each unit of finished metal. Water availability and electrical capacity can also constrain expansion even where the mineral resource itself is extensive.
Chile’s importance is difficult to separate from copper and lithium demand. Copper is required in electrical machines, power networks, renewable generation, vehicles, electronics, and almost every serious electrification programme, while lithium remains a central battery material. Increasing output therefore depends on the productivity of mines as much as on government declarations about strategic supply.
Canadian investment in Chile is already substantial. Natural Resources Canada puts Canadian mining assets in the country at approximately C$43.5 billion in 2024 across about 52 companies, making Chile the second-largest destination for Canadian mining assets abroad.
The five-year Codelco–MacLean programme gives the latest bilateral announcements a practical engineering test. It will have to show that equipment and systems developed through collaboration improve real work underground sufficiently to justify wider deployment.
Critical-minerals policy is often discussed at the level of deposits, trade relationships, and national strategies. El Teniente offers a useful corrective: minerals still have to be drilled, excavated, scaled, moved, supported, monitored, and processed. If the partnership is going to strengthen supply, at least part of the evidence will eventually have tracks, tyres, booms, cables, and maintenance records.
