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.
Codelco is a Chilean state-owned copper mining company. It was formed in 1976 from foreign-owned copper companies that were nationalised in 1971.
Grupo México is a Mexican conglomerate that operates through the following divisions: Mining, Transportation, Infrastructure and Fundacion Grupo Mexico.
The Bingham Canyon Mine, more commonly known as Kennecott Copper Mine among locals, is an open-pit mining operation extracting a large porphyry copper deposit southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah, in the Oquirrh Mountains. The mine is the largest man-made excavation, and deepest open-pit mine in the world, which is considered to have produced more copper than any other mine in history – more than 19,000,000 short tons. The mine is owned by Rio Tinto Group, a British-Australian multinational corporation. The copper operations at Bingham Canyon Mine are managed through Kennecott Utah Copper Corporation which operates the mine, a concentrator plant, a smelter, and a refinery. The mine has been in production since 1906, and has resulted in the creation of a pit over 0.75 miles (1,210 m) deep, 2.5 miles (4 km) wide, and covering 1,900 acres. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966 under the name Bingham Canyon Open Pit Copper Mine. The mine experienced a massive landslide in April 2013 and a smaller slide in September 2013.
Copper mining in Arizona, a state of the United States, has been a major industry since the 19th century. In 2007, Arizona was the leading copper-producing state in the country, producing 750 thousand metric tons of copper, valued at $5.54 billion. Arizona's copper production was 60% of the total for the United States. Copper mining also produces gold and silver as byproducts. Byproduct molybdenum from copper mining makes Arizona the nation's second-largest producer of that metal. Although copper mineralization was found by the earliest Spanish explorers of Arizona, the territory was remote, and copper could seldom be profitably mined and shipped. Early Spanish, Mexican, and American prospectors searched for gold and silver, and ignored copper. It was not until the completion of the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1876 that copper became broadly economic to mine and ship to market.
Mount Toromocho is a mountain in the Junín Region, Peru that sits next to the long established mining camp of Morococha and hosts a large polymetallic metal deposit. Toromocho means in Spanish "a bull with no horns". It is now owned by the Aluminum Corporation of China (Chinalco), a parent company of Chinalco Mining Corporation International (CMC). Minera Chinalco Perú S.A., a subsidiary of CMC which operates the Toromocho mine, is boosting the mine's productivity with a new production line.
Southern Copper Corporation is a mining company that was founded in 1952. The current incarnation of Southern Copper can be traced to the 2005 acquisition of Southern Peru Copper Corporation by the Mexican copper producer Minera México.
The mineral industry of Peru has played an important role in that nation's history and been integral to the country's economic growth for several decades. The industry has also contributed to environmental degradation and environmental injustice; and is a source of environmental conflicts that shape public debate on good governance and development.
Cerro Verde is a Peru-based mining company. Its activities include the extraction, exploitation and production of copper from the porphyry copper deposit located southeast of the city of Arequipa. In addition, the company holds a copper sale agreement with Sumitomo Metal Mining, as well as a molybdenum sale contract with Climax Molybdenum Company.
Minsur is a Peru-based mining company engaged in the extraction, foundation and refining of tin and copper. It is also involved in the exploration for new minerals deposits, with a focus on gold, silver, lead, and zinc ores.
The San Manuel Copper Mine was a surface and underground porphyry copper mine located in San Manuel, Pinal County, Arizona. Frank Schultz was the original discoverer, in 1879, but the main body of the deposits were discovered by Henry W. Nichols in 1942. The exploration drilling went on from 1943 to 1948, with the first mine shaft built 1948. Louis Lesser developed a mining city to service Nichols’ newly discovered deposits, and the development was completed about 1954. The first major production began in 1955. The mine and smelter were permanently closed in 2003.
Escondida is a copper mine at 3,100 metres (10,200 ft) elevation in the Atacama Desert in Antofagasta Region, Chile.
The Toromocho mine is a large copper mine in the center of Peru, in Junín Region. Toromocho represents one of the largest copper reserves in Peru and in the world, having estimated reserves of 1.52 billion tonnes of ore grading 0.48% copper, 0.019% molybdenum and 336 million oz of silver.
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 Tia Maria mine is a large copper deposit located in the south of Peru in the province of Islay, Arequipa Region. The deposit contains an estimated total reserves 711 million tonnes of ore graded at 0.36% copper. The project is operated by Southern Peru Copper Corporation.
The Cerro Verde mine is a very large copper mine located about 20 miles southwest of Arequipa, in southwestern Peru. Cerro Verde represents one of the largest copper reserves in Peru and in the world, having estimated reserves of 4.63 billion tonnes of ore grading 0.4% copper and 113.2 million oz of silver.
Las Bambas copper mine is an open-pit copper mine in the Cotabambas province of Peru. With over a billion tons of copper ore, the deposit is one of the largest in the world and produces 2% of global copper. Las Bambas also produces molybdenum concentrates. Development began on the mine in August 2015 and production began in early 2016.
Molybdenum mining in the United States produced 65,500 metric tons of molybdenum in 2014, worth US$1.8 billion. The US was the world's second-largest molybdenum producer, after China, and provided 25% of the world's supply of molybdenum.
