The highly anticipated results of an investigation into an unidentified flying object was released by Chilean officials on July 3rd.

The government agency responsible for the investigation was the Committee for the Studies of Anomalous Aerial Phenomena or CEFAA.

The CEFAA is directly tasked with researching any bizarre incidents that occur in Chilean airspace.

The event in question occurred in April 2013 at the Collahuasi copper mine and was documented through a series of photographs.

The copper mine is located in the Andean plateau and is 14,000 ft above sea level.

There were four witnesses working at the time of the incident. According to the eyewitnesses, a disc-shaped object hovered near their location for roughly an hour about 2,000 ft in the air.

Chile releases official study on UFO photos http://t.co/a6xmvf2OU2 via @HuffPostWeird pic.twitter.com/0GNmZQkvyw

— AJ Ghergich (@SEO) July 6, 2014

They claimed the UFO was absolutely silent the entire time it was at the location. Eventually it drifted away.

One of the witnesses used a Kenox Samsung S860 camera to take photographs of the flying object.

Initially all persons who saw the UFO had decided to say nothing for fear of ridicule. However, the man who photographed the object shared his images with an employer.

It was the employer who sent the images to the CEFAA in February for further analysis.

Chile releases official study on UFO photos http://t.co/asmaR3bPu2 pic.twitter.com/Db2KWOSQFw

— ExpandedPerspectives (@ExpandedP) July 5, 2014

All of this was done on the condition of anonymity for all parties involved.

Because there were no clouds to be seen on the day of the UFO sighting, as confirmed by Chile’s meteorological office, it was determined the object absolutely could not be a cloud. Other meteorological possibilities were eventually ruled out by the CEFAA staff.

Eventually, practically every logical explanation as to what the object could be was also ruled out, including drones, planes, weather balloons, or experimental aircraft.

Once conventional solutions were deemed inappropriate, a much deeper analysis was prepared by the CEFAA.

After examining the photographs carefully and going back over witness descriptions, the CEFAA have ruled that the phenomenon involved “an object or phenomenon of great interest, and it can be qualified as a UFO”.

It’s important to remember that the phrase “unidentified flying object” does not necessarily mean “alien aircraft”. It simply is a description for a flying object that cannot be explained or correctly identified after a great deal of analysis.

The CEFAA admitted that the Collahuasi case was especially hard because witness cooperation was practically nonexistent.

Image via YouTube