El Tofo
Iron mine in Chile
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
El Tofo is an iron ore mine in the Chilean Norte Chico region.[1] The mine lies in northern Coquimbo Region within a larger mining district known as the Chilean Iron Belt. Geologically El Tofo is an iron oxide-apatite deposit.[2] Before Andrés Andai's Compañía Minera Santa Fe begun operations in El Dorado El Tofo was the sole iron mine of significance in Chile.[3][4]
The first record of the iron ores of El Tofo dates to a 1840 study of Ignacy Domeyko.[5] While the mine presents good geological aspects for 19th century mining geographical aspects made access difficult despite being close to the Pacific coast.[5] The mine began to be exploited in 1870 but by 1955 mining diminished as the deposit were close to depletion.[5] Subsequently the El Romeral mine was opened 30 km to the south in replacement.[6] Compañía de Acero del Pacífico obtained the ownership of El Tofo and El Romeral in the early 1970s when it was nationalized during the Presidency of Salvador Allende.[5][6] Later the ownership passed to Compañía Minera del Pacífico as it was privatized during the Pinochet dictatorship.[5] As of 2017 El Tofo is not active.[2]
