
Escondida Mine, Chile
· The Escondida copper, gold, and silver openpit mine is at an elevation of 3050 m, and began operations in 1990. Current capacity is 127,000 tons/day of ore; in 1999 production totaled 827,000 tons of copper, 150,000 ounces of gold, and million ounces of silver. Primary concentrate of the ore is done onsite; the concentrate is then sent to the coast for further processing through a .