Chile Guide
El Norte Grande
Chuquicamata
One of the world's largest open-pit copper mines, CHUQUICAMATA (16km north of Calama) produces 600,000 tonnes per year – outstripped only by Mina Escondida, 200km southeast of Antofagasta, whose capacity exceeds 800,000 tonnes. Carved out of the ground like a giant, sunken amphitheatre, the massive mine dwarfs everything within it, making the huge trucks carrying the ore up from the crater floor – whose wheels alone are an incredible 4m high – look like tiny, crawling ants. Its size is the result of some ninety years of excavation, and its reserves are predicted to last at least until the middle of the twenty-first century. Along with all of Chile's large-scale copper mines, or "grandes minerías" as they're called, Chuquicamata belongs to Codelco, the government-owned copper corporation. Codelco also maintains the adjacent company town, complete with its own school, hospital, cinema and football stadium, but plans are under way to move the nine thousand workers and their families to Calama to make way for further excavation.
Regular yellow colectivos (20 min; CH$800) leave for Chuquicamata from Calle Abaroa, on Calama's main plaza; guided tours (Mon– Fri 2pm; CH$1000 donation to a children's charity supported by the mine) leave from the office next to the Banco del Estado. Book ahead at the tourist information office in Calama or by telephone ( 
55/326469 or 322122). The tours last 1 hour 30 minutes and take place almost entirely on a bus, though you're allowed to get out at the viewpoint looking down to the pit – wear sensible shoes and clothing that covers most of your body. The rest of the tour takes you round the machinery yards and buildings of the plant, which you see from the outside only.