Originally published in El Mercurio – Special Edition I, 18 May 2023
Design and construction
Pangea Geotecnia is the only company in Chile using high-resolution pressuremeter testing in mining projects. The company also holds the exclusive license for Single Bore Multiple Anchor (SBMA) technology.
Codelco, SQM (Salar de Atacama), Aclara Resources (Penco Module), BHP (Escondida), and Albemarle are among the mining companies that have trusted Pangea Geotecnia, a firm specializing in the design and construction of geotechnical solutions. The company differentiates itself in the Chilean market through the use of high-resolution pressuremeter testing and its exclusive license to design and construct multiple-bulb anchors. In the mining sector, Pangea Geotecnia provides a wide range of services, including geotechnical consulting for retaining structures, foundations, and piles; geotechnical and geophysical investigations; and stability analyses for large-scale mine waste storage facilities.
"Our greatest strength lies in our ability to provide an integrated service—from site investigation and engineering design through to construction and quality control. A detailed understanding of ground conditions, combined with technologies that are unique in Chile, enables us to deliver safer and more efficient solutions for our clients."
Among the mining projects completed by the company are the detailed design of micropiles for the new truck maintenance workshop at Minera Escondida; slope stability assessments for explosive storage facilities at Codelco Andina; engineering support for the acquisition and installation of PMR and PFE equipment at Codelco Salvador – Potrerillos; detailed engineering for the electrolyte tank bypass at Codelco Gabriela Mistral; procurement engineering for Albemarle's soda ash solution production expansion; and pit slope stability analyses for Aclara Resources.
At the time of publication, Pangea Geotecnia was also carrying out a micropile engineering consultancy and geotechnical investigation for SQM (Salar de Atacama), a geotechnical study for processed material storage facilities at Aclara Resources, and engineering support for anchored retaining walls and piles for new accommodation facilities at Codelco Andina.
Exclusive technologies
Pangea Geotecnia is the only company in Chile using high-resolution pressuremeter testing for mining projects. This technology measures the fundamental in situ properties of the ground without relying on disturbed samples and investigates a significantly larger volume of soil than conventional testing methods, making it particularly suitable for coarse-grained and heterogeneous materials.
According to Rafael Martínez:
"This technology has enabled us to evaluate and optimize high mine waste storage facilities, slopes in difficult-to-characterize materials, foundations, and deformation estimates in sandy and atypical materials such as salars and rockfill. We have also developed a methodology for calibrating constitutive models using pressuremeter test results."
While Ménard pressuremeters are available in Chile, Pangea Geotecnia's high-resolution pressuremeter measures deformation using three strain gauges with micrometre-level resolution, providing substantially greater measurement precision.
As Rafael Martínez explains:
"The Ménard method is primarily empirical, supported by some theoretical concepts. In contrast, the parameters obtained with our equipment represent fundamental material properties."
Pangea Geotecnia is also the only company in Chile authorized to design and construct multiple-bulb anchors under an exclusive license from the UK-based developer Single Bore Multiple Anchor (SBMA) Limited.
Rafael Martínez destaca que el objetivo fundamental de un anclaje es sostener y por lo tanto reforzar, tanto masas de suelo o de rocas, que debido a la capacidad portante que poseen, están propensas a fallar. «El sistema de bulbo múltiple involucra la instalación de varias unidades de anclaje en misma perforación, conformando todo un único anclaje»
The primary purpose of a ground anchor is to stabilize and reinforce soil or rock masses that may otherwise become unstable. The multiple-bulb anchor system consists of installing several anchor units within a single borehole, forming one integrated anchor system. Each anchor unit includes its own tendon, free length, and bonded length, and each is tensioned individually. All units are stressed simultaneously using hydraulically synchronized jacks, ensuring that the applied load is distributed equally across every anchor unit.
