Chuquicamata copper mine has been operating for the last 103 years as an open pit. The life of the open pit mine is coming to an end in 2020, however production is being taken over by the underground section prior to this end date.
The tour commences after a 30 minutes drive from Calama city, to the abandoned ghost town of Chuquicamata. All personnel who worked on the mine inhabited this mining town. The town had schools, hospital, churches, theater and a stadium as well as housing for 20,000 residents. All personnel were moved to Calama by the company, into company housing, by February 2008. Half of the town was then tipped over with rock waste from the mine –including the hospital. The remainder of the ghost town –inclusive of the town center – is now however considered national heritage and part of Chile’s history.
The open pit is the largest copper mine in the world- 5km long, 3.5km wide and 1.1km deep and is stated owned (CODELCO). There are an impressive 87 dump trucks on this mine! Though non-impressively most of them were queuing when I was there.
A bit confusingly (is this a word?) – all people drive on the left hand side of the mine roads, due to the left hand drive trucks, and when you leave work you drive on the right hand side again.
If you are interested in visiting, you need to email visitas@codelco.cl with the amount of people and date you would like to visit. Tours happen Monday to Friday. A 40 seater bus is used for the trip and fills up fast. The tour is free, CODELCO suggests making a voluntary donation to a children’s charity as “payment”.
2 replies on “Chuquicamata Mine and abandoned Township”
To jest naprawde olbzymia kopalnia! Bardzo fajnie ze mialas okazje ja zobaczyc. A ta podziemna czesc jaka metode urabiania stosuje? nowoczesna kopalnia? Miasto oddaje smutek przemijania i porzucenia.
tata
I very much enjoy your posts. It brings back happy memories of a six months trip through SA in 1999/2000. I especially loved the clear skies. Have a wonderful and save onward journey!