Chinalco Peru’s GIO for Toromocho: remote operations and drill automation lens
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell

First reported on International Mining – News
30 Second Briefing
Chinalco Peru has opened a 1,000 m² Integrated Operations Management Centre (GIO) in Lima to remotely manage its Toromocho open-pit copper mine, centralising planning, dispatch, processing and maintenance functions offsite. The GIO links real-time data, control systems and technical teams in the capital with mine operations at over 4,500 m elevation, aiming to standardise decision-making and reduce on-mine control room footprint. In parallel, Chinalco is progressing drill automation at Toromocho, moving towards remotely supervised, semi-autonomous production drilling.
Technical Brief
- GIO inauguration occurred on 16 December, formalising remote operational management for Toromocho from Lima.
- Chinalco Peru states it is the first mining company in Peru with such an integrated offsite centre.
- The 1,000 m² GIO footprint allows multiple functional teams to co‑locate for cross‑discipline decision-making.
- Centralisation enables standardised operating procedures and data models across planning, dispatch, processing and maintenance domains.
- Remote management architecture is intended to support progressive automation of production drilling at Toromocho.
- Semi‑autonomous drill operation implies a shift towards supervisory roles in Lima and fewer operators in-pit.
- Similar integrated centres are likely to become reference models for high‑altitude mining operations with challenging logistics.
Our Take
Within our 505 Mining stories, copper items increasingly feature remote and integrated control centres, so Chinalco Peru’s GIO in Lima signals that Toromocho is aligning with the operating model already seen at other large-scale copper hubs in the Andes and Chile.
Locating the Integrated Operations Management Centre away from the Toromocho copper mine in Lima implies a deliberate move to tap urban talent pools in Peru, which operators in our database have used to improve retention of control-room, data and automation specialists.
Drill automation at a Peruvian copper asset like Toromocho typically supports finer control of fragmentation and bench quality; in our coverage this has often been a precursor to broader automation of load–haul fleets and more centralised planning workflows.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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