Chuquicamata

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One of the larger pits in the base of the open cast mine
One of the larger pits in the base of the open cast mine
Chuquicamata copper mine in 1984
Chuquicamata copper mine in 1984


Chuquicamata, or "Chuqui" as it is more familiarly known, is a big open pit copper mine in the north of Chile, 215 km northeast of Antofagasta and 1,240 km north of the capital, Santiago.

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[edit] Overview

For many years it was the mine with the largest annual production in the world but was recently overtaken by Minera Escondida. Nevertheless it remains the mine with by far the largest total production of approximately 29 million tonnes of copper to the end of 2007 (excluding Radomiro Tomic)[1][2]. Despite over 90 years of intensive explotiation it remains one of the largest known copper resources. Its open pit is one of the largest at 4.3 km long, 3 km wide and over 850 m deep [3] and its smelter[4] and electrolytic refinery (855,000 tonnes p.a.) are amongst the world's largest. Chuquicamata is also a significant producer of molybdenum.

Chuquicamata is now amalgamated with the operating Radomiro Tomic mine to the north (but still on the same mineralised system), the developing Alejandro Hales mine just to the south (formerly Mansa Mina, a slightly impolite description) and the recently discovered 'Toki cluster' of copper porphyries to form the Codelco Norte division of Codelco.[5]

[edit] History

The area 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 from Bolivian to Chilean control and sovereignty due to the War of the Pacific and the subsequent treaties.

In 1912, the Guggenheim Brothers, an American organization, acquired the control over the Chuquicamata fields, and created the Chile Exploration Company. The construction finally started in February of 1913. Production steadily increased from an early yield of 45,000 metric tons annually, to 51,000 tons in 1918, 100,000 tons in 1923, and 200,000 tons by 1937.

The first copper bar, during its contemporary history, was produced on May 18, 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.

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

Today, the state-owned Chilean National 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.

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.

[edit] Economic effects

Copper mining has long been the most consistent of Chilean exports; and in current day, it still accounts for almost one-third of all foreign trade. Yet that 1/3 is down from a peak of almost 75% in earlier years.

Copper has been mined in the land area between central Chile and southern Peru since Colonial times. Yet it was not until the 20th century that copper reached the status importance of other mining exports such as saltpeter or silver. Before the first world war, saltpeter, collected in Chile from abundant deposits of caliche in the Atacama Desert, was the main source of nitrates in the world. After the World War I, because of the production of artificial nitrates, synthesized first in Germany by the combination of the Haber process and the Ostwald process, the world market for saltpeter, which was Chile’s main export, collapsed. In turn, Chile’s economy became heavily dependent on the copper industry. It was from that period that copper became known as “Chile’s salary”.

By the late 1950s, the three largest copper mines in Chile were Chuquicamata, El Salvador, and El Teniente. Chuquicamata and El Salvador were owned and operated by the Anaconda Copper Company. These mines were mainly self-contained and self-sustaining settlements. They were complete with their own cities to house the workers, their own water and electrical plants, schools, stores, railways, and even in certain cases their own police forces. These mines were extremely beneficial in an economical sense, for they provided steady jobs and a steady income for the nation of Chile.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Yacimientos Metaliferos De Chile, Carlos Ruiz Fuller & Federico Peebles, page 54.
  2. ^ Cochilco Yearbook 1986-2005
  3. ^ Codelco 2004 Annual Report
  4. ^ USGS Copper Smelters
  5. ^ Codelco 2006 Annual Report

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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Coordinates: 22°17′S, 68°54′W