World's Largest Copper Mine in Chuquicamata
A Mining and Smelting Centre in the Antofagasta Region of Chile
Jan 17, 2009
In 1911, copper deposits were discovered north of Calama, and quickly exploited by the US Anaconda Copper Mining Company. It grew into the largest open-pit copper mine in the world, producing more than 600,000 tons of copper annually. It was this mine where Che Guevara's political consciousness began to stir, as described in "The Motorcycle Diaries".
Codelco – the Owner of the Copper Mine
The Chuquicamata mine stayed in American hands until Salvador Allende nationalized all Chilean copper mines in 1970. Chuquicamata is now owned by Codelco "Corporación del Cobre" [Cooperation of Copper]. Book a visit to the mine and be overwhelmed by everything that is huge: the pit, the trucks, the factories and the slag heaps.
Practical Information on Visiting the Chuquicamata Mine by Organized Tour
- Since the town of Chuquicamata is closed there is no longer an Oficina de Relaciones Públicas, from where until recently the tours started. Booking is done by telephone or e-mail:
- Phone: [56] [55] 322122
- Fax: [56] [55] 322786
- Email: visitas@codelco.cl
- Visits are from Monday to Friday [except holidays] and leave at two and three pm. The bus leaves from the parking area on the left side of the road, about 400 metres north of the Copec petrol station, just before the entrance to the industrial area. The visit is free of charge.
- Wearing long sleeves, long pants and closed shoes [no sandals] is mandatory.
The Ghost Town of Chuquicamata
Until recently the twenty thousand workers lived in the adjacent town of Chuquicamata, built to American styled constructions. International environmental laws recently led to the evacuation of the entire village to Calama, sixteen kilometres further south, turning the town of Chuquicamata into a ghost town. In the future it will be disappear under one of Chuquicamata's many slag heaps.
The Open-pit Copper Mine of Chuquicamata
The bus drives through the ghost town and past the mammoth slag heaps. 600,000 tons of deposits are transported per day, one third of which has copper-containing minerals. Extracted side products are iron and sulphur. From Chuquicamata the copper is transported by train to Mejillones, from where the majority [forty percent] is exported to Asia – twenty-two percent to China alone! The older slag heaps, dating from the 1950s, are on the agenda to be recycled – in those days techniques to extract all of the minerals were inadequate and the green color of the copper is still visible. The mine is five kilometres long, three kilometres wide and one kilometre deep.
German Liebhers and Japanese Komatsus Trucks
If the pit isn't dazzling enough, check out the trucks: German Liebhers and Japanese Komatsus are eight metres wide and, when in operation, consume two to three litres of diesel per minute. The diesel tank holds four thousand litres. The trucks run twenty-four hours per day, transporting loads of 330 - 400 tons at the time and need maintenance once every two weeks. A tire costs thirty thousand dollars and lasts one year. Since the driver sits on the left, the lane used by the trucks inside the mine has been changed to the left side for security reasons: this way the driver either drives along the upper wall or sits directly on the canyon side. Another security measure is that a pole, carrying a small flag in top and a light [for the night], is attached to all other vehicles, to prevent the vehicle from being run over by the massive trucks [as happened in the past]. From the ninety-nine trucks, seven are permanently used to water the roads – the region has not seen rain for two years.
The second stop is a viewpoint over the factory area with crushers to cut up the large rocks, a flotation factory to separate the copper from the waste [eighty percent of the water is recycled] and the smelting factory.
Changes in the Chuquicamata Mine in the Future
The mine is about to go through major changes: instead of digging deeper, which is no longer profitable, horizontal tunnels will be dug to further tap the copper deposits. The trucks will be out of business, they have become too expensive, and in the future the deposits will be transported by electrically steered conveyor belts. Besides these measures the mine will increase in size through a merger with the adjacent copper mine "Mina del Sur", also owned by Codelco.
Other Places of Interest in Chile
- The region east of the copper mine is known for its picturesque colonial villages: Chiu Chiu, Lasana and Caspana.
- Resources for Travel in Chile – the Northern Region gives an overview of places in interests around San Pedro de Atacama.
- Resources for Travel in Chile – the Central Region of the Elquí Valley gives, among others, an overview of guided tours the the Pisco Distillery and an Observatory.
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