2013 · Collahuasi copper mine, Tarapacá, Chile (4,300 m)

Collahuasi: the disc over the copper mine

Sourced, unconfirmed

Strength C · 5/10 · 1 independent

Evidence 2/4 · Witnesses 1/3 · Backing 2/3

Photos and an official CEFAA finding of 'nothing known'; it is not confirmed whether the workers saw it live or found it in the photos.

Plausibility High

Score 12 · 7 factors for, 0 against

Mine workers' photos studied for a year by Chile's official UAP office, which found it fits "nothing known".

See the factors ↓

Unexplained

One of the Collahuasi mine photos (Tarapacá, April 2013) released by the CEFAA (DGAC Chile) in July 2014: a small silver object circled in red ("Objeto a analizar") over the mine yard, with the Andes behind. CEFAA presentation slide as republished by BioBioChile. · CEFAA / Dirección General de Aeronáutica Civil (Chile), via BioBioChile

WhenApril 2013 (CEFAA conclusion July 2014)

WhereCollahuasi copper mine, Tarapacá, Chile (4,300 m)

Backing1 independent

Evidenceofficial records

In April 2013 workers at the Collahuasi copper mine, high in Chile's Atacama, reported and photographed a silver disc. Chile's official UAP committee spent a year on it with outside scientists and concluded in 2014 that it matched nothing known.

Evidence, in date order (1)

Jul 2014CEFAA (Chile's civil aviation UAP committee, DGAC)official
studied it for about a year with outside scientists and published the photos

How plausible · High

Mine workers' photos studied for a year by Chile's official UAP office, which found it fits "nothing known".

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Access Workers at the mine.
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No gain sought Reported to the authorities.
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Character record Chile's official committee.
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Checkable details check out Photos and the finding are public.
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Physical traces or official reaction Photographs and a year-long official study.
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Restraint CEFAA describes movements, not origin.

Plausibility weighs how well an account fits where secrecy hides the documents by design, so missing records never count against it. Strength measures what is documented. Assessed 2026-10-23.

Claims

About 35 workers reportedly saw and photographed a silver disc about 10 m across, about 600 m away, for about two hours.secondhandSourced, unconfirmedpress reports, 2014

'Desplazamientos verticales y horizontales que ningún avión puede realizar'; after a year with outside scientists, it 'no calza con nada conocido'.analysisSourced, unconfirmedCEFAA director Ricardo Bermúdez (2014)

Where

Collahuasi copper mine, Tarapacá, Chile (4,300 m)

21.0°S 68.7°W