The El Morro mine is one of the largest gold mines in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

and in the world. The mine is located in the north of the country in the Atacama Region. The mine has estimated reserves of 6.7 million oz of gold. The mine also holds reserves amounting to 449.5 million tonnes of ore grading 0.49% copper. Contractors who have worked in this mine are Hatch,

AMEC Amec Foster Wheeler plc was a British multinational consultancy, engineering and project management company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. In October 2017, it was acquired by Wood Group. It was focused on the Oil, Gas & Chemicals, ...

Fluor Corporation Fluor Corporation is an American engineering and construction firm, headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is a holding company that provides services through its subsidiaries in three main areas: oil and gas, industrial and infrastructure, government ...

Bechtel Bechtel Corporation () is an American engineering, procurement, construction, and project management company founded in San Francisco, California in 1898, and headquartered in Reston, Virginia in the Washington metropolitan area. , the '' E ...

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...

was awarded to do electrical engineering. A 70% ownership stake was sold by

Xstrata Xstrata plc was an Anglo-Swiss Multinational corporation, multinational mining company headquartered in Zug, Switzerland and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It was a major producer of coal (and the world's largest exporter o ...

Barrick Gold Barrick Mining Corporation is a mining company that produces gold and copper. It has mining operations and projects in Argentina, Canada, Chile, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Mali, Pakista ...

for $465 million USD in 2009, with the remaining 30% owned by

New Gold New Gold Inc. is a Canadian mining company that owns and operates the New Afton gold-silver-copper mine in British Columbia and the Rainy River gold-silver mine in Ontario, Canada. Through a Mexican subsidiary company, they also own the Cerro Sa ...

Inc. Development of the mine was initially halted in 2012 due to a lack of consultation with the local indigenous

Diaguita The Diaguita people are a group of South American Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous people native to the Chilean Norte Chico, Chile, Norte Chico and the Argentine Northwest. Western or Chilean Diaguitas lived mainly in the Transvers ...

community, but in 2014 a Chilean appeals ruled the project could proceed. This was then overturned by the

Supreme Court of Chile The Supreme Court of Chile is the highest court in Chile. It also administers the lower courts in the nation. It is located in the capital Santiago. In the Chilean system, the court lacks the broader power of judicial review—it cannot set bindi ...

later that year. In 2015, the mine was combined with the nearby Relincho project to a single venture called NuevaUnión split 50-50 between Goldcorp and Teck. Goldcorp was merged with

Newmont Newmont Corporation is an American gold mining company based in Greenwood Village, Colorado. It is the world's largest gold mining corporation. Incorporated in 1921, it holds ownership of gold mines in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Do ...

in 2019.

References

Gold mines in Chile Copper mines in Chile Mines in Atacama Region Surface mines in Chile Teck Resources Newmont {{atacama-geo-stub