Mysterious sinkhole in Chile

1. Where did the hole appear?
In the Atacama Desert, in a region called Tierra Amarilla, about 665 kilometers north of the capital Santiago.

2. What's in the region?
The location where the hole appeared has copper mines and is mostly exploited by the Canadian company Lundin Mining LUN.TO, which owns 80% of the property. The remainder is controlled by Japan's Sumitomo Metal Mining and Sumitomo Corp.

3. How did the hole come about?
It is not known exactly how the hole came about, but the mayor of Tierra Amarilla, Cristobal Zúñiga, told the local media that it is a consequence of the unconscious and excessive extractive activities that are carried out in the area.

Although the government has accused Lundin of being responsible for what happened through overexploitation of the site, a senior company official told Reuters that more studies are needed to determine the origin of the crater.

4. How big is the hole?
Initially, authorities claimed the hole was 25 meters in diameter. Now, there is talk of 50 meters in diameter. The distance to the bottom is almost 200 meters.

According to Reuters, the Space Needle, a tower with an observatory at the top in Seattle, USA, would fit comfortably in the hole, as well as six statues of Christ the Redeemer, facing each other, with their arms outstretched.

5. When was the hole identified?
The National Service of Geology and Mining (Sernageomin) said it became aware of the incident on 30 July.

6. What's in the hole?
Also according to Sernageomin, no material was detected there, but water could be seen at the bottom.