World's top copper producer closes smelter in 'Chile's Chernobyl'
The smelter's operational boss Pablo Bohler symbolically gave the order for the shutdown after six decades of operation in an area that also hosts plants and factories of more than a dozen other companies.
Last year, Chile's environmental superintendent ordered six companies operating in the area to "limit their productive activity, without harming the primary supply" and instructed that measures be taken to reduce pollution from Codelco operations.
