CHUQUICAMATA

Some two hundred kilometers from Antofagasta, in the Atacama Desert, at 3,000 meters above sea level, lies the largest open copper mine in the world, Chuquicamata. It is controlled by the national copper exploitation company, CODELCO. A mere four kilometers away is the Mina Radomiro Tomic mine.

Radomiro Tomić Romero was born in 1914, in the neighbouring town of Calam, and was the son of Stipe Tomić (Dvornik on his mother’s side), the mayor at the time, and Maria Romero Garcia. Radomiro was a senator and presidential candidate in 1970. He passed away in Santiago de Chile, in 1992. As mentioned, a street in Antofagasta is named after him.

Chuquicamata in 1925.

Open-mine excavators in Chile.

Radomiro Tomic Romero (1914 – 1992) is shown on the left, and the back side of the Chilean 500 escudo bill, with the Chuquicamata mine pictured, is on the right.