Background Anglo American plc is a multinational mining company that is one of the world’s largest producers of copper. Los Bronces is Anglo American’s open-cut copper and molybdenum mine — one of the largest copper reserves in the world, located approximately 65 km northeast of Santiago, Chile, at an altitude of around 4,000m above sea level in the Andes Mountains. After being crushed, the ore is fed by conveyor to a grinding plant at Confluencia. After being made into slurry, the product is transported by pipeline to Las Tórtolas — a flotation plant, where it is processed. Las Tórtolas is located 45km from Santiago at about 750m above sea level. This complex also includes a tailings dam, which is used to store by-products of mining operations. The dam was recently raised as part

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