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 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 makes it the second deepest open-pit mine in the world (after
Bingham Canyon Mine in
Utah,
USA).