Minera Escondida

False color satellite image of the Escondida Mine, courtesy of NASA

Minera Escondida (which means 'hidden' in Spanish) is a mining company that operates two open pit copper mines in the Atacama Desert, 170 km southeast of Antofagasta in northern Chile. It is currently the highest producing copper mine in the world. Its 2007 production of 1.483 million tons of the metal was worth US$10.12 billion,[1] mainly as metal in concentrate, but some as cathode, and was 9.5% of world output and 26% of Chilean production, according to the US Geological Survey's preliminary estimates of 2007 world mine output.[2]

  1. ^ Minera Escondida Last News Archived 2009-02-09 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ Mineral Commodity Summary - Copper