El Salvador mine (The Savior) is a combined open pit and underground

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pink ...

mine located in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

and owned by the

state owned State ownership, also called government ownership and public ownership, is the ownership of an Industry (economics), industry, asset, or Business, enterprise by the State (polity), state or a public body representing a community, as opposed to a ...

copper mining company

Codelco Codelco (''Corporación Nacional'' ''del'' ''Cobre de Chile'' or, in English, the National Copper Corporation of Chile) is a Chilean state-owned copper mining company. It was formed in 1976 from foreign-owned copper companies that were nationalise ...

. The mine is located in the

company town A company town is a place where practically all stores and housing are owned by the one company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schools, markets and re ...

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south ...

. The mine was originally built by

The Anaconda Company The Anaconda Copper Mining Company, known as the Amalgamated Copper Company between 1899 to 1915, was an American mining company headquartered in Butte, Montana. It was one of the largest trusts of the early 20th century and one of the largest mi ...

in the late 1950s, but in 1971, with the nationalization of the copper industry in Chile, full ownership of the mine was turned over to the newly formed,

copper mining company

. Codelco had planned to close the El Salvador mine in 2011, but extended the mine life by an additional 15–20 years. El Salvador operates as Codelco's smallest mine with the highest cash costs.

History

The El Salvador mine was developed by

. Production at the mine began in 1959, and was intended to replace production of the company's Potrerillos mine, which would be closing due to a decline in ore quality. Production from the El Salvador would increase Chile's total output of copper about 450,000 tons of copper per year. Rather than a decrease in production, out of satisfaction and relief, the company renamed the mine El Salvador,

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

The Savior. When

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Salvador Allende Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (, , ; 26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean physician and socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 3 November 1970 until his death on 11 September 1973. He was the fir ...

nationalized the Chilean copper mining industry and Codelco was formed in 1971, the El Salvador mine, (and other mines owned by Anaconda, and

Kennecott Copper Corporation Kennicott or Kennecott may refer to: * Kennecott, Alaska, an abandoned mining camp, United States * Benjamin Kennicott (1718-1783), English churchman and Hebrew scholar * Robert Kennicott (1835-1866), American naturalist and pioneer Alaska explorer ...

) became property of Codelco. After the military led coup by

Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...

in 1973, the mines were not returned to the companies. However, Chile did reimburse losses (in part) to Anaconda and Kennecott. In 1989 the mines production rate of of refined copper accounted for 1.7% of the world's copper supply (seven million tons produced globally). The El Salvador mine is Codelco's smallest operation and has the highest cash costs per pound of copper, $0.72 in 2005, (an increase from $0.66 in 2004), compared to a company wide $0.44 per pound. El Salvador produced of copper in the first quarter of 2005 of Codelco's total production of . In 2005 Codelco had planned to shut down the El Salvador mine in 2011 because of declining ore grades and increased costs, but extended the project life by an additional 15–20 years.

Geology

"El Salvador represents the southernmost point of the giant

porphyry copper Porphyry copper deposits are copper ore bodies that are formed from hydrothermal fluids that originate from a voluminous magma chamber several kilometers below the deposit itself. Predating or associated with those fluids are vertical dikes of ...

districts of the

Atacama Desert The Atacama Desert ( es, Desierto de Atacama) is a desert plateau in South America covering a 1,600 km (990 mi) strip of land on the Pacific coast, west of the Andes Mountains. The Atacama Desert is the driest nonpolar desert in th ...

." Located 10 km west of the Sierra del Castillo fault, it consists of

Paleocene The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek ''pala ...

volcanic A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plat ...

host rocks. During the

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', ...

dacite Dacite () is a volcanic rock formed by rapid solidification of lava that is high in silica and low in alkali metal oxides. It has a fine-grained ( aphanitic) to porphyritic texture and is intermediate in composition between andesite and rhyo ...

stocks Stocks are feet restraining devices that were used as a form of corporal punishment and public humiliation. The use of stocks is seen as early as Ancient Greece, where they are described as being in use in Solon's law code. The law describing ...

induced Cu-Mo

mineralization Mineralization may refer to: * Mineralization (biology), when an inorganic substance precipitates in an organic matrix ** Biomineralization, a form of mineralization ** Mineralization of bone, an example of mineralization ** Mineralized tissues ar ...

Labour disputes

As of 2007 Codelco employed 17,000 direct-hire company employees and 28,000 contract employees across all their operations. There have been multiple labour disruptions at the El Salvador mine.

1983

In 1983 El Teniente and two other Codelco mines closed when approximately 13,000 workers voted to strike "indefinitely" in protest of a union leaders arrest for calling for an end to military rule in Chile. Between the three mines at least 3,300 workers and 37 labour leaders were fired for participating in the strike.

1989

A strike occurred at the El Salvador mine in September 1989, it coincided with a strike at

Highland Valley Copper The Highland Valley Copper mine is the largest open-pit copper mine in Canada, located near Logan Lake, British Columbia. It is an amalgamation of three historic mining operations: Bethlehem (later Valley Copper), Lornex and Highmont. History ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

. There was little market reaction to the end of the strike as several other copper mines had ceased production due to bankruptcy, terrorism, weather or labour disruptions.

2007

In 2007, contract workers halted production at the El Salvador mine on 16 June 2007. The roads to the mine were blocked by striking contract workers and stopped company employees from reaching production areas, and union officials indicated that there would be blockades at Codelco's other mines. The contract workers were demanding the same production bonuses, health care, housing and education benefits that company employees received. An agreement was reached between Codelco and the union on 27 July 2007. Disruptions at the El Salvodor mine and other Codelco properties, coupled with production disruptions in Canada caused a 22% increase in the price of copper in 2007.

2008

In 2008, contract workers at the El Salvador and four other Codelco mines went on strike, suspending production on 16 April. They demanded that Codelco fulfil agreements reached the year before regarding increases in pay and improvement of working conditions. Protests by contract workers blocked access to the mine and severe damage to the mine resulted, due to loads borne on columns not designed to support weight for extended periods of time. This resulted in unstable conditions within the mine (as reported by an external consulting firm hired by Codelco). The mine was the victim of

sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a ''saboteur''. Saboteurs typically try to conceal their identitie ...

. Important electrical and water supply equipment was set on fire, which endangered the distribution of

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as describe ...

and drinkable water to the mines, resulting in a delay of operations. The strike resulted in reduced production by the mining company () of copper () planned for the month of July.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:El Salvador Mine Copper mines in Chile Mines in Atacama Region Underground mines in Chile Anaconda Copper