Case study: Relationship between the copper industry and the city of Antofagasta (Chile)

Fuente: European Southern Observatory

Antofagasta, one of Chile's 16 regions, is the country's second largest region economically. It is located in the north of the country, between the Tarapacá and Atacama regions. The region has the largest mining activity in Chile, accounting for 54% of national copper production and 33.8% of investment in mining projects. The Antofagasta region represents between 25% and 30% of the country's total exports.

According to data provided by the regional government of Antofagasta, the region is a leader in the production of copper, molybdenum, apatite, lithium carbonate and chloride, nitrates, sodium sulfate anhydride and iodine. Mining production is intended for export and is developed by large foreign private companies and the state-owned company CODELCO. These companies have advanced technology and high levels of productivity. The mining sector accounts for 95% of regional exports, with copper being the most important product.[1] For example, the Escondida mine which is operational since 1991 and located 160 km southeast of Antofagasta, is the mine with the highest production in the world and is the main copper mine in Chile.

The city of Antofagasta, capital of the region of the same name, is the fifth largest city in Chile. The history of this city begins with Juan López, who arrived in the south of the city in 1866 and officially founded the city on October 22, 1868. According to the 2017 census conducted by Chile's National Institute of Statistics, Antofagasta is the sixth most populated city in the country with more than 388,000 inhabitants. Antofagasta is the city with the highest GDP per capita in Chile, reaching 37,000 dollars.[2] The main activities of the city are linked to mining. The development of the city is directly intertwined with its port activities and mining.

Although the mines are not located within the city but in its surroundings, they have a significant impact on the development of the city. The regional capital became known as the "mining capital of Chile". To what extent can it be said that the economic development of the city of Antofagasta is based on copper extraction?

History of the mining capital of Chile

From Bolivian Antofagasta to the powerful Chilean Antofagasta (1866-1900)

After the process of Latin American independence from the Spanish crown in the 1820s, Chile, Bolivia and Peru decided to keep the same borders that the Spanish used to delimit their regions. However, these borders were not really clear because the Spanish colonists had little interest in clearly demarcating them. For this reason, there were disputed territories such as Tarapacá and Antofagasta, places where saltpeter was found. After negotiations between Bolivia and Chile, they reached an agreement that provides for the right for Chilean companies to exploit the resources of these regions, which would remain Bolivian, as long as they pay a tax. Bolivia promised not to raise this tax over time. Thus, the region of Antofagasta was part of Bolivia, but the Chileans had access to these territories thanks to the Treaty of Boundaries between the Republic of Chile and the Republic of Bolivia signed on August 10, 1866 in the city of Santiago de Chile.

We consider that the history of Antofagasta begins with the discovery and settlement of deposits. The first inhabitant of the city was Juan López, better known under the pseudonym of "El Chango López", who in 1866 brought his parents to these lands by building the first house in the city. He explored the hills of the Cordillera de la Costa where he found a small copper deposit. He began to exploit it with his family and a small group of workers.

Later the same year, one of the workers, José Santos Ossa Vega, found saltpeter in the Salar del Carmen (see photo below) forty kilometers from the city of Antofagasta.

He decided then to exploit it forming the first company "The Atacama Desert Explorer Society" which later became the "Saltpeter and Railway Company", made up of English and Chilean capital. The saltpeter of the region began to be known in Europe thanks to its use in the chemical industry as a basis for making explosives and in the production of fertilizers.

Later, the Government of Bolivia baptized this town with the name of Antofagasta on October 20, 1869. Mariano Melgarejo, president of Bolivia at the time, decided to name the city "Antofagasta" in honor of a hacienda that belonged to his son called "Antofagasta de la Sierra," which in the Quechua language means "city on the waters." A map of Bolivian Antofagasta from 1869 shows a town with only six blocks and Plaza Colón as the center.

Photograph of the original 1869 map of the city of Antofagasta.

The Bolivian government decided to liquidate empty land, which favored the growth of the city because it allowed the installation of commerce, small industries and basic services.

Apart from saltpeter and copper, other minerals were discovered in the region. An 1870-expedition led by José Méndez, alias "El Cangalla" and financed by José Díaz Gana and the Frenchman Barón Arnoux de la Riviera led to the discovery of the mineral of Caracoles. This discovery resulted in the settlement of Antofagasta by producing what is called "the silver rush”. The silver rush is a bit similar to the gold rush as the discovery of the mineral containing silver caused a mass migration of people seeking wealth in the new mining region.[3] Thousands of Chileans who lived in the south moved north and many immigrant ships arrived. In a short time, the city had about 6,000 inhabitants.

In 1872 the Municipality of Antofagasta was created. It was installed and functioned in accordance with Bolivian laws and thus began the ordering of society in the city. Seven years later, in 1879, the War of the Pacific broke out due to the border conflict between Chile and Bolivia.[4]  The military actions between the belligerent countries began after the Bolivian government unilaterally decided to increase the tax on Chilean saltpeter exporters. The landing of the troops commanded by Chilean Colonel Emilio Sotomayor on February 14, 1879, ignited the conflict. The Chilean army occupied the Bolivian port of Antofagasta without facing resistance and advanced the following month into the interior of the province, where the first armed confrontation took place with the Battle of Topater. Peru also participated in this war because it had signed a secret agreement of mutual assistance with Bolivia in 1873.

Quickly the Chilean national forces conquered many territories that were part of Bolivia such as Caracoles, Calama, Mejillones, Tocopilla, Antofagasta, as well as many Peruvian territories.

Antofagasta was the center of concentration of the troops. At the end of the war, the territories of Tarapacá and Antofagasta were incorporated into Chilean national sovereignty. In 1888, 5 years after the end of the war, the government of Chilean President Manuel Balmaceda administratively organized the territory. He officially formed the Province of Antofagasta, establishing the capital in the city of the same name.

The territorial annexation of Antofagasta allowed the Chilean elite to take control of the saltpeter produced by English businessmen with extraordinary prospects at the international level. In the provinces of Tarapacá and Antofagasta recovered by Chile, saltpeter was found in large quantities. The extraction of this mineral was quickly integrated into the impulse of national industrialization and its export. The economic development of the city of Antofagasta at the end of the nineteenth century was more dynamic than the rest of the cities in the province.

Railroads were developed throughout the region in the same period. The railroad was an important factor in the development of the city because it allowed the transfer of silver ore from the different mines to Antofagasta and other cities further north of the country. Likewise, the economic dynamics imposed by the saltpeter industry brought the construction of docks for shipment and export.

At the end of the nineteenth century, the province took the necessary steps to become, in 1914, the largest exporter of saltpeter and turn Chile into the world's leading producer.

End of the nitrate property and beginning of the copper boom, factor of the city's economic and urban growth (1900-2000)

In Chile, the first two decades of the twentieth century began with spectacular economic development. The Chilean state left the exploitation of saltpeter in the hands of private companies and applied a high export tax. The creation of commercial banks in the early years caused a financial boom. Foreign capital was predominant in the sector. At first, it was mostly Peruvian capital, but then European capital was incorporated and those who truly managed to dominate the industry were the English. One of the most important businessmen, John Thomas North, was known at the beginning of the twentieth century as the "king of saltpeter". The saltpeter industry began to specialize and invest in technologies to modernize and make saltpeter exploitation more efficient.

The city continues to grow: the sewerage system that began on San Martín Street in the city is extended. The paving makes the transit through the streets more fluid, and the first locomotion vehicles were introduced. The population rocketed. The Chilean National Institute of Statistics registered in the first census applied in Antofagasta in 1885, a total of 7,588 inhabitants in the city. In 1902, 10,837 inhabitants were registered. In two decades, the population increased by 42.8%.

The production increase in the first two decades of the twentieth century also meant an increase in the number of workers. The mine owners exploited the workers, paying them paltry wages, they also exploited children, and the workers had little health care despite the deplorable working conditions. This led to the awareness of the workers who initiated the first trade unions such as the Workers' Federation of Chile (FOCH). The poor working conditions gave rise to the first workers' strikes and to the first confrontations that were extremely violent. With this, the first Marxist political parties were created in Chile such as the Socialist Workers' Party and the Communist Party.

However, the economy of the region and the city began to rely on the mining industry that itself relied on the global economic situation. The industry suffered from the different economic crises that occurred, such as those of 1910, 1914, and the Great Depression of 1929 which put an end to the expansive cycle of Chilean saltpeter, the end of the saltpeter cycle that forced the country to reorganize the mining industry.

The crisis caused a decrease in the population since in the 1940 census the population reached 49,048 inhabitants against 53,791 inhabitants in 1930. There were shortages of water, food and electricity. There was no flour, milk or tea. Citizens of Antofagasta suffered from this situation for two decades.

The government of Carlos Ibañez del Campo (1952 - 1958) managed to solve the crisis and the region experienced a new period of growth. First, copper began to bear fruit and replace the saltpeter boom. Later, the Chileanization of the mining resource carried out under the government of Eduardo Frei in the 1960s and later the nationalization of the sector by President Salvador Allende in the 1970s added to the better prices in the international market allowed a new economic growth.

The 1970s marked a period during which Antofagasta absorbed the fall of the saltpeter and really began to obtain financial resources from copper production. This implied the reconfiguration of the city with the appearance of peripheral neighborhoods, especially in the north of the city, with many neighborhoods destined to accommodate the mass of mining workers. By the end of the decade, we could already see the social segregation, the lower classes occupying the slopes of the hills and on the other hand the middle-class workers were closer to the center.

During the institutional changes of the 1970s, Chile went from a welfare state model to a liberal economy opened to the world, encouraging and promoting the entry of foreign capital to invest in the national economy. With the enactment of Decree Law 600 "Statute of Foreign Investment", Chile allowed the entry of foreign capital with laws aimed at economic liberalization, definitively replacing the developmentalist industrial model that implied the Import Substitution Industrialization[5] (ISI) of the 1960s.

At the end of the 1980s and particularly in the 1990s, years of the Washington Consensus[6], foreign capital began to strongly integrate the Chilean economy, mainly in the dynamic mining market. According to the Foreign Investment Committee, these investments were mainly destined for the mining sector of the Antofagasta region. For example, the settling of the companies La Escondida and Minera Zaldívar had a positive impact on the city of Antofagasta.

This new context impacted the organization, functioning, morphology and the environment of the city in which it develops, positioning Antofagasta in the global system of the copper market. The city became the playground of a network of global flows of minerals.

To conclude, Antofagasta is a fundamental part of Chile's history and heritage. From the nineteenth century until today, the region and the city have contributed significantly to economic growth and national development, mainly through the exploitation of its mineral deposits. Supported by the economic boom of mining, the city has continued its steady growth. In 2011, the Antofagasta Works Directorate approved 504,000 square meters for construction, 111% more than in 2010. In January 2012, construction permits of more than 75,000 square meters have been granted. According to the National Library of Chile, Antofagasta is currently the economic capital of northern Chile and is undergoing a process of urban renewal but still reliant on copper mining.[7]

Modern Antofagasta: World Capital of Copper

The city’s reliance on fluctuating commodity prices

The Antofagasta region today represents the area of high productivity where the most important mining companies in the market operate and where mining projects of global relevance are developed.

The capital is the fifth most populous city in the country (after Santiago, Valparaíso, Concepción and La Serena). The commune of Antofagasta is home to 388,545 inhabitants (according to 2017 figures). 100% of its population is urban. The city is recognized as one of the richest cities in the country since the area produces 60% of the Gross National Geographic Product. It should be noted that in the Antofagasta Region, approximately 50% of the total number of workers in the country's mining sector are located. That is, of approximately 100,000 mining workers in Chile, 50,000 operate in mining companies in the region.

In the last 50 years, the city of Antofagasta has established itself as one of the anchor cities of the mining sector in the country and in Latin America. The opening of the economy to the world and the settling of multinationals have influenced the current urban development of the city. Nowadays, Chile is open to the globalized world, but being part of globalization also implies a series of challenges to be solved.

According to official data from the Chilean Mining Council, Chile produced 27% of the world's copper in 2022[8] and in the city of Antofagasta more than 15% of the world's copper production was managed. The copper mining business turned the city into an important economic hub in Chile, with great investment prospects.

In general, copper production in Chile is led by the state-owned Codelco and followed by multinationals such as BHP, Anglo American, Glencore and Antofagasta Minerals. Antofagasta Minerals announced its results for 2021, and the company was able to exceed forecasted results for that year, overcoming the challenges that the Chilean industry had to face during that period, the pandemic representing of course the most important challenge. Antofagasta Minerals produced 721,500 tons of fine copper. The copper industry had to face a prolonged drought, as well as the increase in input prices and delays in the global supply chain as a result of the pandemic.

In 2022, the copper market enjoyed a positive start with significant revenues, reflecting not only the relaxation of COVID restrictions in the world especially in countries that buy Chilean copper. 2002 also showed the fundamental role of copper for green energy and electrification. Thus in 2022, the GDP of copper mining rose to 35,095 billion dollars, representing 13.6% of the Chilean national GDP[9].

In addition, Antofagasta's productive activity was favored by a series of productive infrastructure projects to support mining expansion. For example, the remodeling of the Port of Antofagasta and the Cerro Moreno Airport in the city allowed the promotion of copper exports to the Andean subregion and to other continents.

However, metal price fluctuations hit the sector on a regular basis. Let’s take the example of the copper super cycle that occurred between 2005 and 2011. It was a long cycle of very high copper prices, which had a positive impact on the city. When the price of the metal rose above four dollars a pound, it attracted the most important mining companies in the world to the Antofagasta region and turned mining into one of the most coveted sectors to work in.

However, during the expansion phase of this super cycle, companies faced uncertainty regarding the continuity of high copper prices. They did not know how much longer the prices would continue to rise, so they adopted strategies focused on generating maximum production before the very likely fall in prices. This implied the massive hiring of workers. Between 2005 and 2011, employment in mining in the Antofagasta region increased by 63%.

However, the prices collapsed to less than two dollars per pound and the so-called 'copper boom' came to an end. The prices had been dragged down by the decline in consumption in China, the world's main buyer of the metal, and the slowdown in the world's main economies. The end of the super cycle severely affected the mining industry and Antofagasta’s trade. In addition, many of the workers hired during the super cycle were laid off and many of them left the region. In 2007, unemployment hit 8.8%, its highest level in six years, while supermarket sales fell by 1%, according to Chile's National Institute of Statistics.

Nowadays, the city still suffers from its reliance on mining revenues. With services on average 30% more expensive than in the rest of the country, the average debt per inhabitant in Antofagasta exceeds 2,000 dollars, making it the most indebted city in Chile, according to a study by the University of San Sebastian.[10] 

In recent years, mining companies started to talk about a “new copper super cycle” due to the forecasts of rising prices of this metal. However, according to analysts, the long-term outlook for the sector is not very propitious. Difficulties in obtaining environmental permits and social opposition to the construction of mining projects hinder plans to increase production.

Adoption of a mono-exporter system fueled by the demand for copper from the Middle Kingdom

According to figures from the Central Bank, in 2022, 38.5% of Chilean exports went to China, of these, 80% correspond to mining exports. Copper exports accounted for 79% of total Chilean mining exports in the same year[11].

On the one hand, Chile and more precisely Antofagasta export a lot of metal and copper to China. The Asian power needs this copper to produce its lithium batteries. Indeed, China is the leader of lithium batteries market. The technical report "Smelting and Refining Report 2021" of the Chilean Copper Commission shows the relevance of China as a copper importer worldwide. China is the main importer of copper, with 57% of the purchase of concentrates and 50% of refined copper, equivalent to 53% of total world imports. In 2019, Chilean exports of refined copper to Asia accounted for about 60%, with China being the main buyer with 52%. If we take into account what was explained above, which is that the city of Antofagasta manages 15% of the world's copper production, we can assume that the economic development of the city relies on the Chinese demand for copper.[12]

In addition, the Chilean Copper Commission (Cochilco) and the state-owned mining company CODELCO have promoted rapprochement with the Chinese government to strengthen cooperation, given the need to modernize Chilean mines, infrastructure and smelters to comply with the new environmental standards.

On the other hand, the growth of Chilean exports of manufactured goods of low, medium and high added value has grown insignificantly, while its trade balance has increased negatively, according to the Chilean Ministry of Economy in 2016. In reality, the Chile-China or Antofagasta-China relationship is mainly based on the export of low value-added raw materials to China.

The region and the city of Antofagasta are mono exporters of mineral natural resources which so far have not generated productive chains nor diversification.

To conclude, Antofagasta city main activities are related to the administration and export of minerals such as copper. It creates an imbalance regarding other economic sectors as the local authorities are not showing any will to diversify and develop other activities. There was neither diversification of exports, nor added value in them. The authorities gave up on the manufacturing sector and decided to focus on the primary export model. The reliance on China directly impacts the autonomy of copper-exporting regions and cities such as Antofagasta.

Impacts of the copper sector on Antofagasta residents and new challenges for the city

Impacts of mining activities

According to an ECLAC report entitled "The contribution of the mining sector to human development in Chile",[13] the sector has real positive socioeconomic impacts for the Antofagasta region and the city. The first indicator studied by the report is related to access to elementary school. In the mid-2000s, the city of Antofagasta had a net enrollment rate of 91.5% which is higher than the national average. Mining activities are linked to the decrease of poverty. Between 2000 and 2006, Antofagasta city reduced its poverty levels from 12.9% to 6.1%. [14] For instance, he Escondida mining company located 170 kilometers southeast of the capital represents an important source of jobs and wealth for the city.

However, Antofagasta is a also city marked by social inequalities that the mining sector feeds. On the one hand, the copper market attracts domestic and foreign capital, generating wealth and creating job opportunities. On the other hand, wealth is not well redistributed among citizens.

According to an ECLAC report entitled "Socio-spatial segregation in mining cities: the case of Antofagasta",[15] there are strong socioeconomic inequalities among Antofagasta's residents. Two main groups can be highlighted. The mining sector has always attracted immigrants to the city, among them, miners and immigrants in general who simply look for better living standards. The first group benefits from high wages. The second group is made up of immigrants from different countries, mostly South Americans, who tend to work in sectors that are less important to the city's economy. They are usually unskilled workers, attracted to the city by the low unemployment rate compared to other Chilean cities. The second group suffers from a certain degree of social segregation, as well as spatial segregation.

The use of space and the urban development of the city are directly or indirectly related to mining activity and usually give rise to patterns of socio-spatial segregation.

Map : Antofagasta, spatial divisions, ECLAC

The city has a monocentric structure in whose center all services are concentrated. The spatial proximity of residents to this nucleus determines their opportunities, especially in terms of jobs and services access. The farther you live from the city center, the greater the comparative disadvantage.

The south of Antofagasta is predominantly residential and is characterized by a low population density and prestigious buildings and housing compared to the rest of the city. This area has a lot of private infrastructure geared toward the elites.

The center and south of the city concentrate the elite mostly linked to the mining sector.

On the other hand, the north and west of the city present a different situation in terms of social composition and infrastructure. They are essentially poor areas with a lack of services and are quite heterogeneous from the social point of view but characterized by poverty and social exclusion.

Finally, the housing market of Antofagasta suffers from speculation linked to the mining sector and its activity. Today, Antofagasta has the highest level of housing cost inflation in all of Chile, a situation that has a strong impact on the quality of life of citizens. The housing prices in the city are the result of speculation. The financial capacity of the mining elite and of foreign investors is speculated both in terms of rentals and purchases. Speculation defines the value of the flats which has not stopped from rising since the income generated by the mining sector is increasingly significant. Despite the efforts made by the authorities to develop plans and programs for the redistribution of capital, which emanates mostly from the mining industry, a large part of the city's inhabitants does not have access to the wealth generated by the mining industry.

To alleviate these inequalities Antofagasta Minerals launched in 2022, the project "City Challenge 2022: seven neighborhoods in Antofagasta are benefited by social innovation initiatives". Through this project, the company worked with students and citizens of Antofagasta to address different topics such as education, art, safety and health. For example, workshops on drug awareness and digital literacy were held for children and adolescents. Three garbage collection trucks for recycling were implemented in some neighborhoods of Antofagasta.

What future does it have for the city and its inhabitants?

Being the mining capital of Chile and the world's leading producer of copper, has led to the contamination of air around the city affecting the citizens’ health. People are worried about the dense black dust that covers much of the city's coastline, which in parallel enjoys the benefits of hosting mining giants such as BHP Billiton or the state-owned Codelco.

A study conducted by the Chilean Institute of Public Health showed that the air in Antofagasta contained at least 16 different metals. If mining led Antofagasta to have a GDP per capita of 37,000 dollars per year (versus 20,000 dollars for the national average), it also has led its population to have three years less of life expectancy than the Chilean average. In the Antofagasta region, lung cancer mortality is higher than the national average with 34.7 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the region against a national average of 16.1 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. In addition, there are many cases of bladder and skin cancer.

Air pollution mainly emanates from the port of Antofagasta, which occupies about 10 hectares in the center of the city and has transferred 35 million tons of cargo in the last 14 years. Today, air quality in Antofagasta continues to be one of the main problems the municipality must face with.

However, there are new opportunities for Antofagasta that could change the game. These new opportunities for economic dynamism for Antofagasta are both associated with the emerging challenges of mining, in terms of productivity and environmental sustainability, and in the development of new productive activities in areas where the region enjoys important advantages, such as, among others, the production of lithium and its derived products and the production of renewable energies. Indeed, the Antofagasta region benefits from one of the greatest solar potentials in the world. In addition, it has a thousand hectares available for the implementation of renewable energy projects. To take advantage of these opportunities, the region will need to deploy innovative strategies and break its reliance on China for copper exports.

CONCLUSION

To conclude this case study, the mining industry is both the strength and the weakness of Antofagasta. It represents an important source of income and has positive impacts on the inhabitants. However, it also generates socio-economic and spatial inequalities and environmental problems.

From a historical point of view, the city of Antofagasta has always been linked to the mining sector. The exploitation of its natural resources has allowed the city to develop at the urban level, but also at the economic level. Today, the city plays an important role in the production, management, and export of copper.

However, experts and analysts describe the city as a mono-exporter that seems to have abandoned its process of industrialization and diversification to favor copper production. Antofagasta has been experiencing a process of reprimarization of its economy for many years. Reprimarization is a term that refers to the return of countries to the primary sector of the economy, i.e. agricultural, livestock, fishing, mining and forestry activities[16]. The Middle Kingdom and its growing demand for unprocessed mining products feeds this process in Chile and more precisely in Antofagasta. The city's mining activities rely on Chinese demand since China represents the largest buyer of copper in the world and Chile's first customer.

However, not being so heavily reliant on exports of raw materials is above all the authorities’ responsibility. It is necessary to promote exports in other productive sectors, innovate in the production of goods that benefit from greater added value. Export of raw materials is not always sustainable for an economy.

Relations between China and Chile, and between China and Antofagasta in particular, are strengthening. On February 27, 2023, Ambassador Niu Qingbao met with the governor of the Antofagasta Region, Ricardo Heriberto Díaz to exchange views on economic cooperation such as trade, Chinese investments in Antofagasta and cultural exchanges between the city and China. This meeting could lead us to analyze the ties between the city and the Asian country that are part of China's global strategy of strengthening its relations with Latin American countries and consolidating its presence in the region.

[1] GORE Antofagasta, "Economic Aspects", accessed March 22, 2023,  http://goreantofagasta.cl/goreantofagasta/site/artic/20160926/pags/20160926095739.html.

[2] "E&N: GDP per capita of Antofagasta resembles that of the United Kingdom, and that of La Araucanía, that of Ecuador", accessed March 25, 2023,  http://www.economiaynegocios.cl/noticias/noticias.asp?id=101593.

[3] "La Plata Fever", hmn.wiki, accessed March 23, 2023,https://hmn.wiki/es/Silver_rush.

[4] The War of the Pacific was an armed conflict that took place between 1879 and 1883 that pitted Chile against Bolivia and Peru. It was developed in the Pacific Ocean, in the Atacama Desert and in the Peruvian valleys.

[5] "Import substitution industrialization (ISI) is an economic theory that holds that a country, in order to achieve its development, must transform the raw materials it possesses instead of exporting them." Guillermo Westreicher, "Industrialization by import substitution - Definition, what it is and concept", Economipedia, accessed March 24, 2023,  https://economipedia.com/definiciones/industrializacion-por-sustitucion-de-importaciones.html.

[6] "The Washington Consensus emerged in 1989 in order to seek a more stable, open and liberalized model for the countries of Latin America. It is, above all, a matter of finding solutions to the problem of the external debt that is holding back the economic development of the Latin American area and, at the same time, establishing an environment of transparency and economic stability." Ramón Casilda Béjar, "Latin America and the Washington Consensus"

[7] "Antofagasta (1845-2006) - Memoria Chilena", Memoria Chilena: Portal, accessed March 22, 2023,  http://www.memoriachilena.gob.cl/602/w3-article-3296.html .

[8] CMinero2019, "Updated mining figures", Mining Council, accessed April 8, 2023,  https://consejominero.cl/mineria-en-chile/cifras-actualizadas-de-la-mineria/.

[9] CMinero2019, "Updated mining figures", Mining Council, accessed April 8, 2023,  https://consejominero.cl/mineria-en-chile/cifras-actualizadas-de-la-mineria/.

[10] "Antofagasta, Chile's mining capital, hit by the fall in the price of copper", SWI swissinfo.ch, 20 February 2017,  https://www.swissinfo.ch/spa/afp/antofagasta--la-capital-minera-de-chile--golpeada-por-la-ca%C3%ADda-del-precio-del-cobre/42975524.

[11] CMinero2019, "Updated mining figures", Mining Council, accessed April 8, 2023,  https://consejominero.cl/mineria-en-chile/cifras-actualizadas-de-la-mineria/.

[12] Elizabeth Meneses, "Copper smelters in Chile are three times more expensive than the China average," Rumbo Minero, January 4, 2022,  https://www.rumbominero.com/chile/fundiciones-cobre-chile-tres-veces-mas-caras-que-china/.

[13] Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, The Contribution of the Mining Sector to Human Development in Chile: The Case of the Antofagasta Region (ECLAC, 2008),  https://www.cepal.org/es/publicaciones/6329-aporte-sector-minero-al-desarrollo-humano-chile-caso-la-region-antofagasta.

[14] Eugenio Garces Feliú, Juan O'brien, and Marcelo Cooper, «From the mining settlement to the continental space: Chuquicamata (Chile) and the contribution of mining to the configuration of the territory and the social and economic development of the Antofagasta Region during the twentieth century», EURE (Santiago) 36, n.o 107 (April 2010): 93-108,https://doi.org/10.4067/S0250-71612010000100005.

[15] Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Socio-spatial segregation in mining cities: the case of Antofagasta, Chile (ECLAC, 2016),  https://www.cepal.org/es/publicaciones/40265-segregacion-socioespacial-ciudades-mineras-caso-antofagasta-chile.

[16] Diego Alberto Aviles Quintanar and Pablo Wong González, «China and the effect of reprimarization in Latin America», 3C Empresa. Research and Critical Thinking, August 23, 2019, 118-49,  https://doi.org/10.17993/3cemp.2019.080339.118-149.

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