When a neighborhood neighbor hit it on July 30, it was 25 meters in diameter. Now it is already at 32, and the authorities do not rule out that it could continue to expand.

A huge chasm has emerged at the gates of a small town in the Atacama Desertin northern Chile, has aroused fear and mistrust among the inhabitants, who question its origin and point to the mining activity carried out in the region as a possible cause of the phenomenon.

“It’s not the first time that something like this has happened,” explained the regional governor of Atacama, mario vargasafter hearing the news, although he added that it is the biggest shipwreck ever seen in the area.

“[El socavón] It’s still active, it’s still growing and it’s something that hadn’t been seen in our community,” he similarly pointed out. Christopher Zuniga, mayor of the town of Tierra Amarilla, located just half a kilometer from the hole. “We are concerned because it is a fear that we have always had as a community, to be surrounded by mining deposits and underground works under our commune,” he said.

The National Geology and Mining Service of Chile (Sernageomin) and the Canadian mining company Monday Mining They are investigating the origin and evolution of the hole which, according to the North American company, is 200 meters deep. “We did not detect any material on the bottom, but saw a lot of water,” the company said in a statement.

For his part, Zúñiga showed indignant at the license for the development of the mining activity. “We also find it worrying that the company is intervening in the river bed. We believe that when the permits are issued for this mining company to continue to operate, the authorities do not do the work that corresponds to being able to see what damages this generates and what risks are produced by the mining activity, “, he denounces in a video posted on Facebook.

The environment in which the sinkhole occurred corresponds to what is called Mine of pink caperswhich is part of the complex of Candelaria mine and at the same time constitutes one of the main holdings of Atacama. Thanks to the minerals present in the subsoil of the region, Chile is currently at the top of the list of the largest copper exporters in the world.