Collahuasi Copper Mine UFO Sighting

The Incident

On an April afternoon in 2013, a disc-shaped craft appeared over the Collahuasi copper mine, one of the world's largest copper mines by production volume, located in the hyperarid Atacama Desert at approximately 4,000 meters elevation in Chile's Tarapacá Region. Over 200 mine workers, including engineers, technicians, and administrators, witnessed the object hovering silently at approximately 600 meters (2,000 feet) altitude for more than two hours. Four technicians at the mine captured video documentation of the phenomenon.

Witness Credibility

The Collahuasi mine workforce is highly trained and professional—composed largely of engineers and equipment operators familiar with conventional aircraft, helicopters, and atmospheric phenomena. This industrial context distinguishes the sighting from isolated rural observations: the witnesses held significant technical expertise and occupational responsibility. The scale of the witness pool (200+) across multiple departments and shift rotations reduces the likelihood of mass misidentification or social contagion.

Official Investigation

The sighting was formally investigated by Chile's Dirección General de Aeronáutica Civil (DGAC), the national civil aviation authority equivalent to the FAA. Remarkably, the DGAC issued an official determination that the object was unidentified and explicitly ruled out all conventional explanations: commercial or private aircraft, military helicopters, experimental aircraft, weather balloons, meteorological optical phenomena (including lenticular clouds and upper atmosphere effects), and satellite re-entry. This represents one of the rare instances in which a national aviation authority has officially acknowledged a UFO sighting at the institutional level.

Physical Description

Witnesses consistently described a metallic, disc-shaped object with a flat underside and slight dome or bulge on top. The craft displayed no visible propulsion system, made no audible sound, and showed no detectable heat signature. It maintained a stationary position at approximately 600 meters altitude against prevailing wind patterns for approximately 60 minutes before slowly departing eastward at low velocity. Total sighting duration exceeded two hours from first detection to final disappearance.

Documentary Evidence and Witness Reluctance

Four technicians captured video documentation of the sighting, but the footage has not been made publicly available. Witnesses cite concerns about professional reputation, potential disciplinary action by the mining company, and skepticism from outside observers. This reluctance has limited the depth of first-hand testimony, though it reflects a pattern common to industrial witnesses who fear workplace consequences for UFO-related disclosures.

Significance

The incident is notable for its scale (200+ credible witnesses), duration (2+ hours), and official government recognition. It occurred before Chile became more prominent in post-2017 disclosure discourse, making it one of the largest documented mass sightings at an industrial site with institutional validation.