"Alarm in Chile: A massive sinkhole continues to grow: fear, drought, and a historic ruling", September 30, 2025

A sinkhole 64 meters deep and 32 meters wide shocked the world in the town of Tierra Amarilla, in Chile’s Atacama Desert. The enormous cavity opened three years ago, and although a recent ruling by a Chilean court offers hope for remediation, residents say their fear has not disappeared...

The ruling confirmed that the mining company Ojos del Salado, a subsidiary of Canada’s Lundin Mining Chile, must repair the environmental damage caused by the operation of its Alcaparrosa mine, considered the main cause of the collapse that occurred in 2022...

The court also ratified the indefinite closure of the mine, a decision taken last January, and подчеркed that the sinkhole caused “irreversible” damage to local aquifers by establishing a hydraulic connection that drained water into the underground cavity...

Environmental damage in Chile: despite the court’s ruling over this sinkhole, fear persists. Neighbors such as Solange Toro say the crater could expand, swallowing more land and increasing the risk of collapse: “The uncertainty is the worst part—no one knows if another hole will open tomorrow,” she said...

For its part, Lundin Mining said it will work with authorities to implement environmental remediation measures, although it did not provide specific timelines.