Mining in the Atacama Region, Chile

Content
Chañarcillo today
Introduction
Geology
Historical Records
District Map
Literature
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The ruins of Chañarcillo and Juan Godoi  today - an tourist excursion
The ruins of the Juan Godoi village of Chañarcillo mines still show the magnitude of the mining district. . . .

The mines today
Descubridora  - Mina Dolores 1  -  Dolores 3  - La Colorada  - Bocona - Santa Rosa - San Francisco - Constancia. From the famous mines of Chañarcillo, almost nothing remained visible from the outside, an attempt to plot something . . .

Geology of the Chañarcillo mines (San Roman, 1894)

Historical descriptions of the mines
El manto:
El manto en general
Manto de los Bolados
Manto de los Cobos
Las Guías
Mines of the Colorado or San Francisco lode
Geology of the vein Colorada Domeyko (1846)
Valenciana Cobriza
Profile Valenciana (Moesta)
Esperanza
Colorada
Desempeño
Bocona
San José y San Francisco

Introduction to the Chañarcillo sector
Chañarcillo, one of the most important silver mining districts in the world.

The module of Chañarcillo del Museo Virtual tries to illuminate the history of this famous silver deposit and the mythical village of Juan Godoi (today Juan Godoy). Between 1832 and 1890, then for a period of about 58 years, this place catapulted the Atacama region to the leading edge of world mining. The Atacama Region joined industrialization and globalization.
The pages of the history (Here) give a small chronological list of the most important facts of the Chañarcillo area.

The "tourist pages" (Here) show the sector as it is now and show the striking environment between the desert with the remains of walls and debris and a brilliant history, of incalculable riches

For more information, especially more detailed information, a list of all mines with active links to production data or geological data is included in "Pertenencias".

There are some historical texts, for example a text on the apires and barreteros of Chañarcillo de Gilliss, 1855, an interesting document on life in mines of the time 1855.

As we know, industrialization and technology have shown an unimaginable increase over the last 150 years. For example, the amount of silver produced worldwide in 1850, today Chile produces in a single year - Chile is only number 6 in the current ranking of silver production (2003): Chañarcillo, with its production rate of 1869, today would contribute only 3.4% of Chilean silver production extracted throughout the year.

Cemetery
The cemetery of Juan Godoi

Timeline of the history of Juan Godoi and Chañarcillo

Statistics
general - 1869 - 1876

Maps of Chañarcillo
Map of Domeyko (1903)
Map of veins: Moesta
Map of mining rights (1862)
Map Dolores 3ra
Perfil geológico
Perfil Domeyko
Perfil de la mina Candelaria

3 dimensional view of the sector

Geological Quotes
"Chañarcillo"

Informative Chart
Place: Chañarcillo, Juan Godoi or Juan Godoy
Copiapó Communa, Atacama Region
UTM Location: E360.490 / N69.22.780
Height: 880 m
Location: 50 km to the S (straight line) of Copiapó.
Road distance: 73 kms from Copiapó
Status: Abandoned
Mineralization: Ag (silver) in veins and layers.

Listing of all historic mines with historical production
A listing of all historic mines with historical production information and owners . . .

The railway of Juan Godoi and
Chañarcillo
Line to Chañarcillo

Historical Records
General historical texts
Domeyko in Chañarcillo: Historia y cuentos
Descripcion de KUNZ (1890): Juan Godoi, historia, situación en 1890
The miners of Chañarcillo (Gilliss, 1855)

Historical images:
Picture of the mines (por A. Pissis)
Dolores 1 mine