Mine operated by BHP in a joint venture with Rio Tinto (30%) and Japan-based JECO Corp (12.5%). Escondida’s two pits feed three concentrator plants, as well as two leaching operations (oxide and sulphide). The mine is an important part of the Chilean economy, accounting for several percentage points of GDP.
Escondida is a copper porphyry deposit, remotely located in the Atacama Desert in Northern Chile, 170km south-east of Antofagasta. The name Escondida means 'hidden’ in Spanish. It derives from the main orebody which doesn't outcrop on the surface but is hidden by hundreds of meters of overburden.
Links
- https://www.bhp.com/what-we-do/global-locations/chile/escondida
- https://www.mindat.org/loc-39272.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escondida
Notes
Largest copper mine in the world
Recipient of The Copper Mark
Open pit mine, mill, flotation plant, oxide leaching, sulfide leaching, SX-EW
Copper grade 0.5-0.6%
Production 1,125 kt Cu; Ag, Au co-products
Construction completed in 1990
Koppen-Geiger climate zone: BWk
Media
- Jan-26: Finning says labor pact reached to end blockade of road to Chile’s Escondida, Zaldivar mines (checked 27-Jan-26)
- Oct-25: Chile mine regulator probes worker death at BHP’s Escondida (checked 14-Oct-25)
- Aug-25: Escondida mine union warns of self-driving truck accidents (checked 4-Sep-25)
Created May-25; updated Sep-25, Oct-25, Jan-26