Chuquicamata

Chuquicamata (choo-kee-kə-MAH-tə), 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 9,350 feet (2,850m) above sea level, 215 km northeast of Antofagasta and 1,240 km 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 850 metres (2,790 ft) makes it the second deepest open-pit mine in the world (after Bingham Canyon Mine in Utah, USA).