Property owners hope to re-open "El chiflón del diablo" mine in Lota

LOTA.– Property owners of the Cárcamo e Hidalgo Limitada company have the intention of re-opening the emblematic coal deposit "El chiflón del diablo" in Lota.

The objective is to re-initiate the extraction that has been halted for more than 12 years due to a lack of necessary permits from the corresponding authorities.

To address this hindrance, Jorge Hidalgo, one of the property owners who intends to re-open the deposit, will travel to Santiago accompanied by the president of the Federation of Small Coal Miners, José Riffo, in order to meet with executives from the National Coal Company (Enacar) to discuss the reversal of its closure, reported the newspaper "El Sur".

The "Chiflón del diablo", the only mine in the world with natural ventilation and the only mine in which underwater adventure tourism can be conducted, was closed in April of 1997. Since then it has been converted into a tourist attraction which has been an economic alternative for those who had given many years of labor to the mine.