98 years of Chuquicamata

 Chuquicamata, the largest open-pit mine in the world, is approximately 5 kilometers long, 3 kilometers wide and 1 km deep. It was originally exploited by the indigenous peoples of the area, the "Chucos" Indians, who were the first to discover the properties of copper and worked it to make tools and weapons. From them comes the name Chuquicamata, which means "limit of the land of the Chucos" and also "Spearhead".

The first massive copper extractions began towards the end of the 19th century, when thousands of miners arrived in search of opportunities, amid the heyday of the saltpeter industry. In 1910, an American engineer introduced a process to detect low-grade minerals and began a project to start mining Chuquicamata.

The North American company owned by the Guggenheim brothers acquired the rights of the old company in 1912 and renamed the firm "Chile Exploration Company".

The facilities were officially inaugurated on May 18, 1915. By sending a signal by telegraph from Santiago, the then President of the Republic, Ramón Barros Luco, gave the go-ahead for the deposit. Thus began the industrial exploitation of Chuquicamata, which to this day is the largest open-pit mine on the planet.

 In 1920, the Guggenheim brothers sold their rights and facilities to the American company "Anaconda Copper Mining Co.", which began construction of colossal infrastructure improvement works, brought in equipment and opened roads.

In 1969, the State of Chile acquired 51 percent of the shares of the "Chile Exploration Company" - a subsidiary of Anaconda Copper Mining - and, after the nationalization of copper in July 1971, Chuquicamata became 100% Chilean. On April 1, 1976, the Copper Corporation, Codelco, was created, the largest and most important state-owned company in the history of Chile, the basis of its economy, and Chuquicamata became an integral part of it.

https://www.codelco.com/en/operaciones/chuquicamata/98-anos-chuquicamata