Chilean state coal company Enacar's subsidiary Carvile has suspended for 90 days a tender to sell its assets as a result of damage to the La Fortuna coal mine in southern region VIII, a company source told BNamericas.
La Fortuna was damaged by the February 27 earthquake that hit the country's central and southern regions.
The suspension, which was decided on by Carvile's board and later confirmed via a release sent to securities regulator SVS, affects the eight companies that acquired bidding rules for the process and which were expected to submit offers by April 16.
According to preliminary reports, the mine suffered a collapse of its walls at a depth of 50m in the first access to the underground site. Walls also collapsed at a depth of 400m.
A final decision on whether to proceed with the tender will be made after completion of a detailed evaluation, expected to take three months, as the company wants to assure possible buyers the mine will be able to operate.
This is the second attempt by Enacar to sell Carvile's assets, which also include water rights. The first tender was launched at the end of 2009, but failed after just one company submitted a formal offer, which was well below the reference price of 900mn pesos (US$1.74mn).