Chuquicamata 3.04

Chuquicamata, or "Chuqui" as it is more familiarly known, is by excavated volume the largest open pit copper mine in the world, located in the north of Chile, just outside Calama at 2850m above sea level, 215km northeast of Antofagasta and 1240km north of the capital, Santiago. Flotation and smelting facilities were installed in 1952, and expansion of the refining facilities in 1968 made 500,000 ton annual copper production possible in the late 1970s. The mine is 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 850m makes it the second deepest open-pit mine in the world (after Bingham Canyon Mine in Utah, United States).EtymologyThere are several versions of the meaning of Chuquicamata. The most widely known seems to be that it means the limit (camata) of the land of the Chucos (chuqui). Another says that it means metal (chuqui) tipped wooden (camata) spear. A third says that it means the distance (camata) that a spear (chuqui) was thrown by an Atacameño to determine the size of the copper orebody that a god intended to give him as a reward. Yet another theory is that it means 'Pico de Oro' or 'Peak of Gold'.HistoryThe name Chuquicamata is a word from the Aymara language and refers to the chuco or chuqui Native American Indian group. They worked the copper deposits here in pre-Hispanic times to make their weapons and tools.