Los Pelambres mine
| Location | |
|---|---|
| Coquimbo Region | |
| Country | Chile |
| Coordinates | 31°43′00″S 70°29′26″W / 31.716691°S 70.490446°W |
| Production | |
| Products | Copper |
| History | |
| Opened | 1990 |
The Los Pelambres mine is a large copper mine located in the central-northern of Chile in Coquimbo Region. Los Pelambres represents one of the largest copper reserve in Chile and in the world having estimated reserves of 4.9 billion tonnes of ore grading 0.65% copper.
The mine was first recognized by Willian Burford Braden in 1920. One of the largest copper deposits in the world, production in 2012 was forecasted at 390 tons of copper and 28,000 ounces of gold.
"Los Pelambres is both a typical and a very simple porphyry copper deposit." The Upper Miocene tonalite is a north-south oriented oval, 4.5 by 2.4 km in size, which has undergone hydrothermal alteration. The stock intruded into andesitic host rocks. Glaciation during the carved the U-shaped Los Pelambres valley. The head of the valley has the highest concentration of ore in a Roche moutonnee. A core of potassium silicate alteration contains the economic copper-molybdenum mineralization. Sulfide minerals include chalcopyrite, bornite, pyrite and molybdenite.
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