Los Pelambres

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Los Pelambres mine
Minera Los Pelambres, Salamanca, Chile - panoramio (1).jpg
Location
Coquimbo location map.svg
Schlaegel und Eisen nach DIN 21800.svg
Los Pelambres mine
Chile location map.svg
Schlaegel und Eisen nach DIN 21800.svg
Los Pelambres mine
Coquimbo Region
Country Chile
Coordinates 31°43′00″S70°29′26″W / 31.716691°S 70.490446°W / -31.716691; -70.490446
Production
Products Copper
History
Opened1990
Owner
Company Antofagasta Minerals
Location of the Los Pelambres and El Teniente copper mines in Chile Copper mines in Chile - 1.PNG
Location of the Los Pelambres and El Teniente copper mines in Chile

Los Pelambres mine is a copper mine located in the north-central of Chile in Coquimbo Region. It is one of the largest copper reserves in the world, having estimated reserves of 4.9 billion tonnes of ore grading 0.65% copper. [1]

Contents

Production in 2012 was forecast at 390 tons of copper and 28,000 ounces of gold. [2] [ needs update ] The mine is served by Los Pelambres Airport, and by a water desalination facility at Los Vilos. A billion-dollar expansion project is underway. [3] [ needs update ]

William Braden prospected the area near the future mine in 1914 but he did never discover the deposits. [4] In the 1960s the ore deposit was discovered thanks to rock samples brought to the valley town of Illapel by an arriero. [4]

Geology

The Upper Miocene tonalite stock is a north–south oriented oval, 4.5 by 2.4 km in size, which has undergone hydrothermal alteration. The stock intruded into andesitic host rocks. Glaciation during the Pleistocene carved the U-shaped Los Pelambres valley. The head of the valley has the highest concentration of ore in a roche moutonnee. A core of potassium silicate alteration contains the economic copper-molybdenum mineralization. Sulfide minerals include chalcopyrite, bornite, pyrite and molybdenite. [5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Minera Los Pelambres, Chile" (in Romanian). mining-technology.com. 2012. Retrieved 2013-06-12.
  2. ↑ Charles Caldwell Hawley (2014). A Kennecott Story. The University of Utah Press. p. 109,111.
  3. ↑ "Expansion of Chile's Los Pelambres copper mi..." BNamericas.com. 20 August 2020.
  4. 1 2 Millán 1996, p. 156.
  5. ↑ Sillitoe, Richard (1973). "Geology of the Los Pelambres Porphyry Copper Deposit, Chile". Economic Geology. 68 (1): 1–10. Bibcode:1973EcGeo..68....1S. doi:10.2113/gsecongeo.68.1.1.

Bibliography

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