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Chuquicamata Copper Mine, Chile, Statuettes [191576]

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Mining Start Price:200.00 USD Estimated At:400.00 - 800.00 USD
Chuquicamata Copper Mine, Chile, Statuettes [191576]
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A pair of statuettes, copper or copper coated, of what appears to be 2 gods, with an arch and spear? both made of the same material. All are heavy, shiny and copper colored, with an arch embossed "Chuquicamata." The group of 4 weighs 9.2 pounds. The "gods" measure 6" tall x 2.5" x 2.5", arch is 3" tall x 4" wide x .75" depth, the "spear" is 3.6" long x .5" x .5". Chuquicamata, in northern Chile, is the largest open pit copper mine (most excavated volume) in the world. In the late 1970s it had the capability to produce 500,000 tons of copper annually. The Incas and Spanish explorers exploited the mineral deposits of Chuquicamata during the pre-colonial and colonial periods, and Chilean and English companies mined from 1879 to 1912. But it was mined long before then as discovered in 1899 when a mummy dated to c. 550 A.D., the "Copper Man," was found in an ancient mine shaft. The Chuquicamata mine was previously part of Anaconda Copper from 1922 to 1977, when following the overthrow of Chile it was confiscated from Anaconda. The mine is now owned and operated by Codelco, a Chilean state enterprise. One interpretation is that it means the distance (camata) that a spear (chuqui) was thrown by an AtacameÒo (indigenous Chileans) to determine the size of the copper orebody that a god intended to give him.
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Country (if not USA): Chile
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