Chuquicamata and Potosi Mine - Comparison
Hello everyone,
So this one I’ll do it in English because it might actually be easier to explain how I felt by visiting the two mines of Chuquicamata (near Calama - Chile) and Potosi (Bolivia). You’ll have to excuse me for the Mess but I don’t really know and I don´t have much time to organize this, so I’ll spill it out as it comes.
Chuquicamata : pictures 1 to 22 - link: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150193910042430.326941.723932429&l=78aded2728
The Chuquicamata Mine is the 2nd world biggest Copper Mine and accounts for a third of Chile’s foreign trade. This is huge since Chile is the world biggest exporter of Copper in the world (30% of the world's mine production of copper). Well the idea is that this mine is crucial for international exchanges in Copper.
At one point in history, it was so important that a whole city was built right next to the mine so that miners could get there easily, what they did not foresee is the time the mine would last (more that 100 years now, twice longer than what was planned) and time passing by the amount of waste grew as well. Indeed, only 1% of the total material extracted will become pure Copper. In the end, the new artificial mountain of waste started to overwhelm the city, which was therefore abandoned and is now half buried (picture 4 - Below the mountain are houses, sholl and even a hospital). The last family left the city in 2008 so everything looks pretty much normal, except that it’s empty.
The Chuquicamata Mine used to be an opensky mine, the extraction is now mostly conducted in tunnels, and therefore they are no longer digging. It is still quite a nice hole though as you can see (picture 13). 5km long, 3 km wide and 1 km deep.
Regarding the production, 5% of the total copper can be transformed into another material, much more expensive and which cover ALL the Costs of the Mine. The consequence is that in Chuquicamata, the production of pure Copper is pure benefit. It should be notes that the Mine was nationalized by Allende in 71 (an is still 100% public) which allows great salary conditions for the personnal (18.000 people are working in the Mine): The conductors of the huges truk you see on picture 18 are paid 4000 US Dollars per month for instance, which in Chile is huge. The working conditions are hard yes, but there a good compensations.
Potosi: pictures 23 to 40 - link: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150193910042430.326941.723932429&l=78aded2728
The Potosi Mine, on the Bolivian side is a whole different story, it was first fully exploited by the Spanish invaders since the middle of the 16th century (almost 500 years now !!) who where “utilizing” locals first and then (when the church admitted the possibility that Indians could have a soul) slaves from Africa (it was not the case for them). It was at first a silver mine, they say that with all the silver extracted from Potosi you could build a silver bridge from Potosi directly to Madrid. It is true though that during the 17th century Potosi was one of the major economic centers of the world. The city itself (the world highest city of over 100.000 inhabitants by the way) was the size of London or Paris, and the amount of silver extracted from Potosi had direct consequences on all the European market.
After a depression, the city is now back on its feet, thanks to the high prices of raw material, and is counting 160.000 inhabitants at the moment. The difference with Chile consist of the working conditions of the miners. I had never seen this before but ALL the miners are totally independent, they either work for themselves or constitute small group of Miners. The only legal obligation is to pay taxes to one of the many cooperatives which regulate the relations with government (owner of the land): Each miner pay between 15 and 30 % of its product to these cooperatives (amount depending of the services provided by the cooperative – Social security etc).
Otherwise, Miners dig, extract and sell their production on their own (they therefore decide of the number of working hours etc. depending of their needs). The first “private step” of the process are the small factories (disseminated all around the mountain) which extract the actual minerals from the raw material brought by the miners.
The visit of the two mines is part of the story, Chuqui was organized with the provision of a bus, guide for all (both Spanish and English), guided tour, stop at a mirador well protected to see the view, and no answer to any question related to accidents: On the other side, in Potosi, you go deep down into the mine with a bolivian guide, you meet the miners, you buy some coca leaves, dynamite etc as presents (as independent they have to buy their own material – picture 17).. We witnessed them blowing up dynamite deep in the ground (strange feeling, you actually FEEL it everywhere, and then the smell of powder gets you).. And most important these guys talk about their lives, the fact that they like what their doing (despite a life expectancy of 50 years).. They prey to the devil (el tio - picture 25 - owner of the underground) when they are in the mine and are catholic at the surface.. in the end the visit is quite hard but so much more interesting..
Here you go, I have to leave now, I’m sure I forgot 1 million things so I’ll try to update this note soon. Meanwhile if you have any questions, go ahead, I really enjoyed that place and I’ll be glad to talk about it more. The idea what to make you feel (through explanations and pictures) the difference of world I have experienced between Chile and Bolivia..
Hasta Luego guys, Take care
Antoine