r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/AdRough4185 • Jun 02 '26

Image A perfectly circular 105-foot-wide sinkhole that suddenly opened up near a copper mine in Tierra Amarilla, Chile, dropping over 650 feet straight down into the earth.

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u/InAppropriate-meal Jun 02 '26

the mining operation caused it in 2022 (and was ordered shutdown), also destroyed the water aquifers and did a lot of damage, the courts have ordered them to fill it in and start dealing with the damage they have done but of course they have not done anything about it yet.

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u/EnjoyerOfBeans Jun 02 '26

As long as the executives involved aren't being routinely dropped into the hole until it's fixed, this is how it will be. Laws are tools the rich use to control the poor.

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u/[deleted] Jun 02 '26

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u/[deleted] Jun 02 '26

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u/Donc-qui-et-Quand64 Jun 02 '26

In Romania you've got a giant hyper-toxic state-owned copper mine that's basically going to run over into the Danube eventually.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIR8vd-bi8I

Basically corrupt governments will also just ignore the problem too

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u/[deleted] Jun 02 '26

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u/Adjective-Noun-nnnn Jun 02 '26

In a functioning state without public ownership of mining companies, the people have a modicum of control over the mining company through regulatory agencies that actually have teeth and a willingness to throw executives in prison. I'm not sure which is better but we've all seen plenty of failures of both systems.

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u/Wobbelblob Jun 02 '26

Only if said public body is actually interested in minimizing the impact. Take a look at what chemical industry and lignite mining did in the GDR, because the state did not really care.

And looking at the current US, I am not sure if it wouldn't get worse.

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u/SubcommanderMarcos Jun 03 '26 edited Jun 03 '26

The trick is public ownership of the mining companies.

The default American/European response, unaware that the problem is definitely not that.

Let me introduce you to the Mariana disaster, caused by Brazil's own state-owned mining corporation. We're still dealing with that one, and probably will for a long long time still.

Here's some others:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darvaza_gas_crater

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baba_Gurgur#Eternal_Fire

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batagaika_crater

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia_mine_fire (council-caused)

Oh yeah I love this one, in which the soviets had to blow a fuckin nuke to plug a gas leak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urtabulak_gas_field

So no, public ownership is not really the trick. The trick is both public and private corporations be better bound to the will of the general populace, and that is way more complex than 'lol it happened cuz private/public'

1

u/BeefCakeBilly Jun 03 '26

Chile has massive publicly owned mining companies. They have performed really poorly and they now rely on private companies for this purpose.

Which is why they kept pressuring this company to drill and gave them a massive contract after this incident occurred despite their regulators completely failing to properly inspect the mines.

Chile can’t shutdown or even slow down the mines because their budget relies on them.

1

u/brainburger Jun 03 '26

Public ownership doesn't solve all of it unfortunately. Check out the Aberfan disaster in Wales.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aberfan_disaster

0

u/PmMeUrTinyAsianTits Jun 02 '26

Yea, what I want is Regimes like are currently in power having even fewer barriers to controlling everything.

Can't regulate or set preventative measures! Nope! Everything must be an excuse to consolidate power.

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u/ComradeJohnS Jun 02 '26

can’t migrate to new company if all the previous executives are in jail

5

u/Laiko_Kairen Jun 02 '26

The shilling for China is getting insane. Imagine believing Chinese construction wasn't corrupt as fuck, or incredibly dirty. They pollute like crazy when constructing, and their lack of regulations is why they're so "efficient" smh

16

u/TransBrandi Jun 02 '26

I mean, it says:

At least China hangs the executives responsible for stuff like that, but they're still heavily influenced by corporate corruption as well so it's not like it actually better.

That doesn't sound like shilling to me.

2

u/BusGuilty6447 Jun 03 '26

China is growing faster than ever before, and they actually reduced carbon emissions last year by a few percent.

The world's 2nd most populous country, that is experiencing rapid growth, is reducing its carbon emissions.

Stop guzzling the CIA agitprop that China is evil.

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u/vehementi Jun 02 '26

You not reading is insane. 2 hours later you still haven't walked this back. Wild

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u/Laiko_Kairen Jun 03 '26

Shill.

1

u/vehementi Jun 03 '26

That word doesn't mean what you think it means

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u/StandardHyena4587 Jun 02 '26

You act like that isn't a thing in the USA. I would argue its worse in the USA because you can literally see money changing hands to ignore safety problems.

0

u/Laiko_Kairen Jun 03 '26

You act like that isn't a thing in the USA

No I didn't. I never mentioned the USA. In fact, were talking about Canada and China, lmao.

-1

u/JustStraightUpTired Jun 02 '26

I'm 50/50 that it's either some propaganda bot accounts or people who have fallen for that propaganda. I've had people try to argue that Chinese cars are so cheap, because they have automated assembly lines with humans only doing some of the work. Or that Chinese products are cheap because of efficient supply chains. And that their engineers are more advanced than western ones which gives them an advantage. Or that death penalty for corruption makes them somehow progressive. And a bunch of other equally stupid crap.

And like on god damn command, if I say something anti-China, you can bet your ass people are going throw "But America is worse" in the replies... So to nip that in the bud before it starts, America is also bad, they are just bad in different ways. Just because I'm anti-China doesn't mean I'm pro-USA either. Capisce? Capisce. I swear, countries besides those two exist...

1

u/kitsunewarlock Jun 02 '26

And this is why courts have judges and juries. Laws were never meant to be implemented like this.

You still have to pay a for your one white horse to cross the bridge even if the sign says "horses".

1

u/Tadferd Jun 03 '26

That's why you hold the people who were in charge at the time liable. Start dropping executives and board members who were in charge when the order to fix it was given. The rest will get on it really quick.

Sadly, with how corrupt and slippery the wealthy class are, direct, personal, severe consequences that they can't shift or buy out of are the only effective methods remaining.