Monster Trucks and Hard Hats

Trip Start Feb 14, 2011
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Trip End Jan 30, 2012


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Flag of Chile  , Antofagasta,
Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Our next destination was slightly off the tourist trail, or so we thought. Chuqui copper mine, the world's largest open cast copper mine (and "only" the second largest open cast mine in the world) is only a short bus ride from Calama and in the direction we were heading. We’d read about it a while back, but didn’t hold out much hope of going since the only way to get in was by emailing the company itself. Not expecting much, we promptly received a reply from the company’s visitor department that we were booked in to the day’s trip along with a coach load of other tourists! Turns out open cast mines are popular in Chile!

The 2 hour tour turned out to be very well run (bilingual guide) and free to boot, result! First off we visited the town associated with the mine when it first opened, now a complete ghost town! Something to do with health and safety rules – it was a few hundred meters from the mine itself
Thats one big hole!
Thats one big hole!
!  They were pretty big on the health and safety with hard hats and a formal “please stand this side of the bus in the event of an earthquake”.

The mine itself was pretty spectacular. It was big! We were told its 3km wide, 5km long and 1km deep. It didn’t seem that enormous though until a monster truck went by (which oddly drive on the left as the driver’s cab position means they can’t see much if they drive the way South American’s normally do). We were told that the mine operates 24 hours a day and has another 50 years of copper left, although most of the current mining is underground. All in all a fascinating trip and good intro to the importance of mining in this part of Chile.
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