The Chuquicamata district includes the Chuquicamata and Radomiro Tomic megadeposits, the exotic copper deposit Mina Sur, the newly developed Ministro Hales mine (formerly known as Mansa Mina) located 5.5 km south of Chuquicamata, and the deposits of the Toki cluster (Toki, Genoveva, Quetena, Miranda, and Opache) located about 15 km SSW of Chuquicamata. Total identified resources for the Chuquicamata district are estimated at 107.4 Mt of fine copper considering a cutoff Cu grade of 0.2 wt% (Codelco Memoria Anual 2011). Inferred resources for the cluster are estimated at about 20 Mt of fine copper, with Toki contributing with ca. 11.2 Mt and Quetena with ~3.8 Mt (Camus 2003; Rivera et al. 2006).

The deposits of the district are located in the Late Eocene–Early Oligocene (43–31 Ma) porphyry copper belt that extends for about 1,400 km, from 18°S to 31°S (Sillitoe 1988; Sillitoe and Perelló 2005). The rocks in the area range in age from Paleozoic to Tertiary. The main structural feature observed is the West Fault, which is part of the Domeyko Fault System (Boric et al. 1990; Dilles et al. 1997) and divides the district in two domains: an eastern domain and a western domain.

The main copper oxide minerals in the Radomiro Tomic deposit are atacamite, copper clays, chrysocolla, and copper wad. Their relative abundance provides the basis for dividing the oxide zone into two major geologic units: the Upper Oxide unit and the Lower Oxide unit. Furthermore, the stud ........

Radomiro Tomic is mined by open pit extraction method.

Sulfide ores
In open-pit mines, the process of producing copper from sulfide ores begins at the mine pit. Waste rock and ores containing copper are first drilled and blasted and then loaded onto diesel-electric trucks by electric shovels. Waste is hauled to dump areas.

Oxide Ores
Copper oxide ore is mined, crushed and deposited into large piles.

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