Native copper pseudomorph after aragonite, western Bolivia

The Corocoro United Copper Mines, Ltd. was the largest

copper mine Copper extraction refers to the methods used to obtain copper from its ores. The conversion of copper consists of a series of physical and electrochemical processes. Methods have evolved and vary with country depending on the ore source, loca ...

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

, an honor previously held by Compania Corocoro de Bolivia. The corporate office was at 151 Finsbury Pavement House,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England, while the mine office was at Coro Coro, Bolivia. It was organized August 6, 1909 under the laws of Great Britain. The lands included 515 claims in the Coro Coro district. The principal mines were the Wisk'achani, formerly owned by J. K. Child & Co., Ltd.; the Santa Rosa, formerly owned by Carreras Hermanos; and the Guallatiri, formerly owned by the Succession Noel Berthin. The mines were opened on two successive conglomerate

strata In geology and related fields, a stratum ( : strata) is a layer of rock or sediment characterized by certain lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by visible surfaces known as ei ...

of different geological horizons, and similar only in their origin and cupriferous nature. The mines are believed to have been worked by the

Incas The Inca Empire (also Quechuan and Aymaran spelling shift, known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, (Quechuan languages, Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts", "four parts together" ) wa ...

. The nearest water supply was the Rio Desaguadero, away, down which the copper was shipped by way of Puerto de Desaguadero, and from there to

Mollendo Mollendo is a town bordering the Pacific Ocean in southern Peru. It is located in the Arequipa Region and is the capital of both the Islay Province and the Mollendo District. Mollendo was the main port in the Peruvian southern coast until Matar ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, for export to Europe.

References

{{coord missing, Bolivia Copper mines in Bolivia 1909 establishments in Bolivia Mines in La Paz Department (Bolivia)