Chuquicamata

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Image:Chuquicamata copper mine chile.jpg Image:Chuqui001.jpg

Chuquicamata, or, "Chuqui," as it is commonly called, was up until 2003, a small city in the north-west of Chile, it now houses the largest open pit copper mine in the world. This article in its current state refers to the mine located near the former location of the city of Chuquicamata.

Chuquicamata is located at (Template:Coor dm), 15 km north of the city of Calama in the region of Antofagasta. The mine is elliptical in form, with a surface of almost 8,000,000 m², and it is 680 m deep.

The place has been exploited since pre-Hispanic times. The word Chuquicamata comes from the Aymara language and refers to the first inhabitants of the zone. The territory where the mine is located passed to Chilean control and sovereignty due to the War of the Pacific and the subsequent treaties.

The first copper bar, during its contemporary history, was produced on May 19, 1915 by the US company Guggenheim Bros. The company continued the mining exploitation with the names Chilean Exploration Co, Chile Copper Co., and Anaconda Co., until copper mining was nationalized during the Salvador Allende administration.

Today, Chilean Copper Corporation (Codelco) controls the mine. In 2003 encroachment by the growing mine and increased enforcement of pollution regulations forced the dismantling of the city of Chuquicamata — founded as a mining camp — workers and inhabitants were then relocated to the nearby city of Calama.

Until 1999 Chuquicamata had the name "Codelco Chile Division Chuquicamata" , since then (Codelco) renamed it to "Codelco Norte".

In the next 10 years (Codelco) has plans to make "Chuquicamata" an Underground Mine, mainly because the "pit" is becoming deeper and it makes the process of extracting the mineral difficult. The changes also mean that "Chuquicamata" will substantially improve its capacity for processing copper.

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