TIERRA AMARILLA (Reuters) -Residents in the mining town of Tierra Amarilla in the Chilean desert are hopeful that a new court ruling will allay their fears about a giant sinkhole that opened near their homes more than three years ago and remains unfilled.

A Chilean environmental court this month ordered Minera Ojos del Salado, owned by Canada’s Lundin Mining, to repair environmental damage related to activity at its Alcaparrosa copper mine, which is thought to have triggered the sinkhole that appeared in 2022.

The ruling calls on the company to protect the region’s water supply and refill the sinkhole. The cylindrical crater originally measured 64 meters (210 ft) deep and 32 meters (105 ft) wide at the surface.

That has provided a small measure of relief to those in arid Tierra Amarilla

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