{{Short description|Copper mine in Chile}} {{confuse|El Morado Natural Monument}} {{Infobox mine | name = El Morado | image = | width = | caption = | pushpin_map = Chile Atacama#Chile | pushpin_label = | pushpin_map_caption = | pushpin_mapsize = 150px | coordinates = {{coord|28.871941|S|71.126211|W|region:CL|format=dms|display=inline,title}} | place = [[Chilean Coast Range|Coastal Cordillera]], 40 km south of [[Freirina]] | subdivision_type = | state/province = [[Atacama Region]] | country = [[Chile]] | owner =[[Sociedad Capote Aurífero]] | official website = | acquisition year = | products = [[Copper]] | financial year = | amount = | opening year = 1952 | closing year =1973 }} '''El Morado''' (lit. "The Purple") is a largely inactive copper mine and mining district in [[Atacama Region]], Chile. ==Discovery and activity== The copper ores of El Morado were discovered in the late 18th century and were mined through the 19th century.<ref name=geotur>{{Cite book |title=“Geoturismo en el Valle del Huasco: Un aporte de las geociencias al desarrollo y crecimiento del turismo tradicional” |year=2016 |pages=13-16 |language=es |url=https://goreatacama.gob.cl/wp-content/uploads/Universidad-de-Atacama-Geoturismo-en-el-valle-del-Huasco.pdf |editor-last=Castillo Jorquera |editor-first=Nicoll |editor-last2=Tapia Viera |editor-first2=Miguel}}</ref>
El Morado's last cycle of mining began in 1952 when the mining company Sociedad Capote Aurífero led by the Callejas brothers began construction of processing facilities.{{sfn|Álvarez Gómez|1995|p=158}}{{sfn|Álvarez Gómez|1995|p=159}} The individual mines in El Morado worked in this period included Arenillas and Santo Domingo.<ref name=geotur/> In the early 1970s El Morado was restructured as a [[mining cooperative]].<ref>{{Cite journal |title=El cooperativismo minero como alternativa de organización social y económica en los años de la revolución. Atacama 1964-1973 |journal=Tiempo Histórico |last=Venegas Valdebenito |first=Hernán |volume=5 |pages=103-127 |year=2012 |language=es}}</ref> Mining in El Morado halted after a fire burned its processing plant and storage facility on November 1, 1973.{{sfn|Álvarez Gómez|1995|p=162}} At its height El Morado employed more than 300 workers and about one thousand people lived in its vicinity.<ref name=geotur/> Following its closure El Morado became depopulated.{{sfn|Álvarez Gómez|1995|p=162}} ==Geology== The copper in El Morado is found in NE-oriented [[quartz]] [[vein (geology)|vein]]s whose thickness ranges from 30 to 100 cm.<ref name=geotur/> The ore minerals in these veins are [[chrysocolla]], [[brochantite]] and [[chalcopyrite]].<ref name=geotur/> In addition the veins contain [[magnetite]], [[pyrite]] and [[specularite]].<ref name=geotur/>
==References== {{reflist}}
==Bibliography== *{{Cite book |title=Huasco de cobre |last=Álvarez Gómez |first=Oriel|author-link=Oriel Álvarez Gómez|publisher=Ediciones de la Universidad de Atacama |year=1995 |pages=158–162 |language=es}}
[[Category:Copper mines in Chile]] [[Category:Mines in Atacama Region]] [[Category:Underground mines in Chile]] [[Category:1952 establishments in Chile]] [[Category:1973 disestablishments in Chile]] [[Category:Former mines in Chile]] [[Category:Mine closures in the 1970s]]