Chuqui Mina...it´s BIG

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I know i said that was it from chile but i´ve got a few hours to spare in the ordinary town of Calama before i go. I left San Pedro early this morning and took the 1.5 hour bus trip so as to make sure i´d get tickets for the only train which runs from Chile to Bolivia each week. Any thoughts of warmth will be appreciated as i talked to a huy who did it a couple of weeks ago and he said the temperature plumeted to -10. Pretty darn cold thats for sure.

So to the main reason for the bonus blog Chuqui Mina, just outside of Calama. As you can see from the pictures its pretty big. In fact its 5km X 3km and nearly 900m deep. The boys doing the mining take it in shifts so it´s on the go 24 hours per day. The largest of the trucks carry 400 tonnes of rock from the bottom to the top, where copper is extracted and then sent mainly to Asia and Belguim (no idea why here specifically). Anyway i was in awe (ore...bad joke..get it..hmm) as it was so huge and the trucks looked like ants at the bottom, but when you get close up there as tall as at least 2.5 Marcs. Being the nosey Brit I am, i obviously enquired about the safety records of the mine. Pretty good on the whole (hole..another joke..hmm) but the guide did admit that occasionally the proverbial happens. When pushed she explained this means once every couple of years a lorry kind of, well falls off. Luckily when i was there all the drivers were happy as larry and all tooted there horns at the tour group i was with. Amazingly the mine accounts for 17% of all Chiles exports, and well over half of the copper output of the country.

So i carry on to Bolivia now, hopefully if i´ve managed to thaw out i´ll send you a blog from Uyuni just over the border very soon.

Still good times here.

marc

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Photos

Big Stuff
This is the SMALLEST truck they use to take about all the rock

Yeah, pretty big
Mina

Marc and the mine 2
From the viewing platform. The tour was about an hour and very interesting. only one pound too.

Calama
Random as pie the one south american i knew from Santiago turned up in Calama. I spoke no Spannish and she no English so we talked via her English speaking boyfreind on the phone - madness

Comments

[mum]

only 58 days,20hrs,40mins,3secs
Thats how long you have left of your travels until touch down at Heathrow.Not that Im looking forward to seeing you! Continue to have fun.Good to see more photos. Take care