Centinela mine sits 1,350 km north of Santiago in the Antofagasta region of Chile. Antofagasta Minerals contracted Thiess to develop the Encuentro Oxides pit, which will contribute to the mine's production of 50,000 tonnes of copper cathode per year for a planned lifespan of 15 years.

To monitor and control this production, Thiess is leveraging the Wencomine fleet management system across the mine's 56 active machines, including 12 high-precision loading units and five high-precision drill rigs.

Wenco said expanding the business relationship with Thiess in South America was strategically important for the technology company. Contractor-operated sites are common throughout the region and they stand as a significant growth market for the company.

The Hitachi Construction Machinery subsidiary recently also won orders for SSR Mining's Chinchillas and Minsur's Pucamarca mines and entered a new partnership with Brazilian mining solutions provider Tecwise.

"Contractors like Thiess are a major growth area for Wenco and the industry as a whole. We're seeing a great many more opportunities of this sort throughout Latin America," Wenco regional manager for Latin America José Eugenio Saravia said.