Location | |
---|---|
Antofagasta Region | |
Country | Chile |
Production | |
Products | Copper |
The Mantos Blancos mine is a large copper mine located in northern Chile in Antofagasta Region. Mantos Blancos represents one of the largest copper reserves in Chile and in the world having estimated reserves of 500 million tonnes of ore grading 1% copper. [1]
Minera Escondida is a mining company that operates two open pit copper mines in the Atacama Desert, 170 km southeast of Antofagasta in northern Chile. It is currently the highest producing copper mine in the world. Its 2007 production of 1.483 million tons of the metal was worth US$10.12 billion, mainly as metal in concentrate, but some as cathode, and was 9.5% of world output and 26% of Chilean production, according to the US Geological Survey's preliminary estimates of 2007 world mine output.
The Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) is an astronomical observatory located on the summit of Mt.Cerro Tololo in the Coquimbo Region of northern Chile, with additional facilities located on Mt. Cerro Pachón about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) to the southeast. It is approximately 80 kilometres (50 mi) east of La Serena, where support facilities are located. The site was identified by a team of scientists from Chile and the United States in 1959, and it was selected in 1962. Construction began in 1963 and regular astronomical observations commenced in 1965. Construction of large buildings on Cerro Tololo ended with the completion of the Víctor Blanco Telescope in 1974, but smaller facilities have been built since then. Cerro Pachón is still under development, with two large telescopes inaugurated since 2000, and one in the final stages of construction as of 2023
Chuquicamata is the largest open pit copper mine in terms of excavated volume in the world. It is located in the north of Chile, just outside Calama, at 2,850 m (9,350 ft) above sea level. It is 215 km (134 mi) northeast of Antofagasta and 1,240 km (770 mi) north of the capital, Santiago. Flotation and smelting facilities were installed in 1952, and expansion of the refining facilities in 1968 made 500,000 tons annual copper production possible in the late 1970s. Previously part of Anaconda Copper, the mine is now owned and operated by Codelco, a Chilean state enterprise, since the Chilean nationalization of copper in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Its depth of 850 metres (2,790 ft) makes it the second deepest open-pit mine in the world, after Bingham Canyon Mine in Utah, United States.
Noranda Inc. was a mining and metallurgy company originally from Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, Canada. It was listed on the TSX under the symbol NRD.LV. After eventually acquiring a large interest in rival mining company Falconbridge, it merged with that company in 2005. The combined company continued under the name Falconbridge Limited, ending the Noranda name. Only one year later in 2006 Falconbridge was acquired by the Swiss-based mining company Xstrata. On 2 May 2013 ownership of Xstrata was fully acquired by mining behemoth Glencore.
Codelco is a Chilean state-owned copper mining company. It was formed in 1976 from foreign-owned copper companies that were nationalised in 1971.
The Cordillera de Talinay is a mountain range situated in the Coquimbo Region of Chile. The range consists of a series of hills and foothills spreading more than 40 km in a north–south direction from the coast, but which descend to meet the Limari river as it crosses Chile's Intermediate Depression.
Silver mining is the extraction of silver from minerals, starting with mining. Because silver is often found in intimate combination with other metals, its extraction requires elaborate technologies. In 2008, ca. 25,900 metric tons were consumed worldwide, most of which came from mining.
A polymetallic replacement deposit, also known as carbonate replacement deposit or high-temperature carbonate-hosted Ag-Pb-Zn deposit, is an orebody of metallic minerals formed by the replacement of sedimentary, usually carbonate rock, by metal-bearing solutions in the vicinity of igneous intrusions. When the ore forms a blanketlike body along the bedding plane of the rock, it is commonly called a manto ore deposit. Other ore geometries are chimneys and veins. Polymetallic replacements/mantos are often stratiform wall-rock replacement orebodies distal to porphyry copper deposits, or porphyry molybdenum deposits. The term manto is from the Spanish word for mantle, or cloak, although the geologic manto is more like a mantle roll than a sheetlike structure.
El Salvador is a mining town in the commune of Diego de Almagro, Chañaral Province, Atacama Region, Chile. Located at an elevation of more than 2,400 meters in the foothills of the Andes and in the middle of the Atacama Desert, it has a population of approximately 7,000 inhabitants. At its peak, El Salvador once had a population of 34,000 inhabitants.
El Teniente is an underground copper mine located in the Chilean Andes, 2,300 m (7,500 ft) above mean sea level. It is in the commune of Machalí in Cachapoal Province, Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins Region, near the company town of Sewell. This was established for the workers and their families.
Iron oxide copper gold ore deposits (IOCG) are important and highly valuable concentrations of copper, gold and uranium ores hosted within iron oxide dominant gangue assemblages which share a common genetic origin.
Between 1830 and 1850, Chilean silver mining grew at an unprecedented pace which transformed mining into one of the country's principal sources of wealth. The rush caused rapid demographic, infrastructural, and economic expansion in the semi-arid Norte Chico mountains where the silver deposits lay. A number of Chileans made large fortunes in the rush and made investments in other areas of the economy of Chile. By the 1850s, the rush was in decline and lucrative silver mining definitively ended in the 1870s. At the same time, mining activity in Chile reoriented to saltpetre operations.
The El Morro mine is one of the largest gold mines in Chile and in the world. The mine is located in the north of the country in the Atacama Region. The mine has estimated reserves of 6.7 million oz of gold. The mine also holds reserves amounting to 449.5 million tonnes of ore grading 0.49% copper.
The Mantoverde mine is a large copper mine located in northern Chile in the Atacama Region. Mantoverde represents one of the largest copper reserves in Chile and in the world having estimated reserves of 580 million tonnes of ore grading 0.5% copper. In February 2020, Mitsubishi Materials Corp stated that it bought a stake worth 30% in the company for $236 million.
The Quellaveco mine is a large copper mine project located in the south of Peru in the Moquegua Region. It is undergoing government environment approvals for its Environmental Impact Assessment. The last EIA modification was submitted in 2014. The Quellaveco mining property is majority–owned by Anglo American. Quellaveco represents one of the largest copper reserves in Peru and in the world, having estimated reserves of 1.1 billion tonnes of ore grading 0.55% copper. The planned development of the mine estimates a processing capacity of 85000 metric tonnes per day. Fluor Corporation has been assigned as the EPCM contractor for this project.
The Cuajone mine is a large copper mine located in the south of Peru in Moquegua Region. Cuajone represents one of the largest copper reserve in Peru and in the world having estimated reserves of 1.6 billion tonnes of ore grading 0.57% copper.
The Inca de Oro mine is a large copper mine located in northern Chile in Atacama Region. Inca de Oro represents one of the largest copper reserves in Chile and in the world having estimated reserves of 769.7 million tonnes of ore grading 0.36% copper.
Agua Amarga is a silver deposit and defunct mining district in Chile's Atacama Region. It is located 30 km south of Vallenar. Agua Amarga was discovered in 1811 and its silver was instrumental to finance the Chilean War of Independence. An enquiry by Ignacy Domeyko tells of 150 individual mines active in Agua Amarga in 1822. Calera, Colorada and Aris are mentioned as the most productive mines of Agua Amarga.
23°25′53″S70°03′26″W / 23.4315°S 70.0572°W