Nine others were injured -- none critically -- after the magnitude 4.2 earthquake struck at 5:34 pm (2134 GMT) in the world's largest underground copper mine, El Teniente ("The Lieutenant"), Codelco said.

"Codelco reports the death this afternoon of our colleague Paulo Marin Tapia," it said in a statement.

El Teniente is located in the city of Rancagua, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the capital Santiago.

The United States Geological Survey reported a shallow magnitude 5.0 earthquake about 35 kilometres from Rancagua at 2134 GMT.

Rescuers were working to enter the collapsed area, and "we have already reached some of them," Maximo Pacheco, president of Codelco, told Cooperativa radio.

Chile is the world's leading copper producer and mines nearly a quarter of the global supply.

The valuable metal is used in wiring, motors and renewable energy generation.