Chuquicamata

<p>Chuquicamata  is the largest <a href="/facts/Open-pit_mining/IvTLjU41">open pit</a> <a href="/facts/Copper/I8PEE8oX">copper</a> <a href="/facts/Mining/g6uDIFab">mine</a> in terms of excavated volume in the world. It is located in the north of <a href="/facts/Chile/uEyTfEcx">Chile</a>, just outside <a href="/facts/Calama%2c_Chile/Jhe5DVWJ">Calama</a>, at 2,850 m (9,350 ft) above sea level. It is 215 km (134 mi) northeast of <a href="/facts/Antofagasta/jhBU3bMr">Antofagasta</a> and 1,240 km (770 mi) north of the capital, <a href="/facts/Santiago%2c_Chile/JfuaYt26">Santiago</a>. 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 <a href="/facts/Anaconda_Copper/IzDgB5y7">Anaconda Copper</a>, the mine is now owned and operated by <a href="/facts/Codelco/ABULkDz9">Codelco</a>, a Chilean state enterprise, since the <a href="/facts/Chilean_nationalization_of_copper/NvA47VUH">Chilean nationalization of copper</a> 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 <a href="/facts/Bingham_Canyon_Mine/GThqCwIf">Bingham Canyon Mine</a> in <a href="/facts/Utah/te7zUyBX">Utah</a>, United States.
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Chuquicamata open-in-new

Chuquicamata